Things Comickal and Random

elsewhere/grim amusements: "dc says yea ... for now"

2009-12-16T07:14:32Z

Grim Amusements: dc says yea ... for now

"God's war". Hmm. One would think that we lived in a theocratic state, wouldn't one? Apparently, we turned into Iran when we weren't looking. [...] The really fascinating thing is going to be seeing what the Supreme Court does with this. As I understand it, decisions out of DC's court, since DC is more or less a federal city-state, can be appealed directly to the Supreme Court, though they may also go through the Court of Appeals that includes Virginia and Maryland -- the Third Circuit, I think. [...] In any event, as the opponents say, nothing is likely to really change for a while. The law will almost certainly be enjoined during all of the various challenges, one way and another. In 3-5 years, if all goes well and people are lucky, you may actually get universal marriage in DC.

Probably not, though.

random: today's moment of, "wait, what?"

2009-12-12T08:07:11Z

Note that all items below are audio only, so that there are no strange yet wondrous visuals to interfere with the strange yet wondrous sounds.

First, there's ... this. Which may be, on the one hand, possibly a bit too self aware. On the other hand ... well.

And after that, something genuinely lovely yet melancholy.

random: glitter on the highway, glamorous 80s edition, or, just because again

2009-12-04T19:43:11Z

For some strange reason, during the odd idle moment, I've been perusing the odd music mashups. No idea why. Just because.

Below is one where the songs, strangely enough, really do work together, and the videos ... really really don't. Seriously, they almost appear not to have been made on the same planet. (Oh, and this actually manages not to earworm you with either song. Weird.)

Two songs that go really well together, and two people/groups that between them seem to have made a total of at least five videos for two songs. And they all kind of fit together, in small bits.

You have to go to the Hype Machine page to hear this one -- there's a "Play this track" button near the top of the page, well above the song title, which is just poor layout design if you ask me (which you didn't, but whatever). My own opinion is that the mashup makes the more recent song much much better. (Though one wonders what Jimi Hendrix would have to say about it. Also, truly hate that video.)

random: song and dance, or, just because

2009-12-03T20:50:56Z

Most ... distinctive singing advice EVER.

And, just because I feel like it.

comickal: a motley

2009-12-01T23:43:19Z

Comics >A nerdly cause I could get behind. Seriously, why does that not stay dead? Or else if it must rise again like zombies in the low-tech mist, why doesn't it happen in a more usable way?

YES. EXACTLY. I can't tell you how many times I've nearly been hit by a car because the driver wasn't paying attention because of the damn phone.

"They call him Flipper! Flipper! Faster than lightning! No-one you see is smarter than he!"

Well, it would make Hamlet less depressing, anyway. Either that, or it would be like Hitchcock's Vertigo (which has one ending too many) or The Postman Always Rings Twice (which has three).

I do not believe the Get Milk people will be amused, somehow.

Always remember and never forget: social media is no villain's friend.

...Yeah, OK, that works, too.

All's I have to say is, any story that can include the sentence "Alert the penguin bombadeers!" just kind of works for me, you know?

If that really worked, the streets around frathouses would be a lot furrier. Especially at the start of the school year. All things depending, of course.

Walmart would be a MUCH busier place with aisles like that.

Ah, yes. Read that chapter during the pastor's sermon one week. Then asked the parents of the kid I'd gone with to explain why his daughters would have done such a damfool thing in the first place. They were nonplussed.

comickal: recently read, a few singles edition

2009-11-27T00:44:08Z

World's Finest #2 (Sterling Gates/Ramon Bachs/Rodney Ramos; DC)

Many a long year ago, I saw this movie based on the TV series Dragnet. The movie featured Dan Ackroyd and an up-and-coming(ish) Tom Hanks, along with Ally Sheedy, playing Connie Swale, a person whom Ackroyd's Joe Friday Jr and Tom Hanks' character need to protect. Friday winds up introducing her to his mother with a line something like, "Mom, this is the virgin Connie Swale." His mother responts with a very fixed smile, saying, "...You're joking." If you have ever read Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, or seen the recent animated film made from that story, then when you reach the end of this issue, you're going to have the exact same expression on your face, and the exact same phrase running through your head. (And no, I can't be more specific than that.)

The general shape of this edition of World's Finest seems to be to show a type of Superman/Batman adventure, entirely eithout either Superman or Batman. Instead, we get a Superman/Batman adventure filtered through their sidekicks -- or, more correctly, through their affiliates, since Superman can't reasonably be said to have sidekicks, and three of the four Bat people we're going to get are only somewhat affliated with the Bat currently, although all of them have been closer than they are now. Which makes the revelation of the broader story at work make a great deal of sense.

As far as the story goes, it's interesting enough. The Guardian (apparently no longer limited to Mahnattan) and Damian's Robin team up -- if that's quite the right word for it -- to thwart a plot by Dr Freeze and Parasyte. The plot itself is very lean, allowing the story to focus on the characters' interaction. The Guardian treats Damian like a snot-nosed upstart, refusing to call him "Robin" because he feels that it's a title you have to earn. (One wonders how he feels about the new Batman.) Damian, rather understandably, does not take this terribly well. It's very good character work. But still, almost all of that gets swamped by the last page revelation of ... well. Like I said, fixed smile and "you're joking" just about covers it.
Good; Recommended.

The Web #3 (Angela Robinson/Roger Robinson/Hilary Barta and Walden Wong; DC)
"Spinning the Future, part 3", in which the Web's roast chickens come home to roost, and he gets lodged firmly within the Bat corner of the DC universe. And, really, pretty much anyone with a quarter of a functioning brain cell could have told the Web that franchising his suit and his powers would not work out well. In fact, it works out Very Badly Indeed. Badly enough that he gets a visit from the Oracle and Batgirl, telling him to cease and desist. He doesn't, quite, but he gets close enough that Oracle significantly upgrades his computer capacity -- while also landing him with all sorts of spyware and the like that he seems not to know about. (Which, seriously, if he really doesn't know about or expect exactly that outcome, the man is too stupid to do what he does. Which he very well may be. The software also contains a rather painful, if alarmingly functional, version of Facebook.) The Web also winds up getting exactly what he thinks he wants, only to discover that it may not be quite what it appears to be. In the backup story, "The Hangman: The roar of the sea" (John Rozum/Tom Derenick/Bill Sienkiewicz), The Hangman investigates the unusual occurence of a person that appears to have drowned in a flood in the middle of dry land.
Good; Recommended

Detective Comics #859 (Rucka/Williams III, with "special thanks to 1Lt Daniel Choi for his generous assistance in research for this issue"; DC)

"Go, part 2: Seven Years Ago", in which we catch up with Kate several years after the attack in London, as a cadet at West Point. And pretty much the first thing she does is almost alarmingly stupid; we see her kissing her then-girlfriend while still apparently on the West Point campus grounds, out in the open. This, not surprisingly, results in her being called up on charges for a violation of the military code -- though, interestingly, her girlfriend is quite specifically not charged -- and as Kate refuses to lie, she's summarily drummed out of the army. We also see her telling her father -- and his reaction, frankly, is really wonderful (though his choice in engagement rings for his new fiancee turns out to be utterly misguided, though that's a side point).

We also see Kate's first meeting and subsequent relationship with Renee Montoya back in her pre-question days -- They meet very very cute -- as well as the issues that drove them apart. Interspersed through this story is Kate dealing with the apostates from the Religion of Crime, realizing that the prophecy was in fact very specific about what they were looking for, while seeming to be very confusing, and getting her blood and Alice's tested to see if her sister really was still alive. And finally, we see some of what inspired Kate along her current path. Overall, it's a very interesting story, although her inspiration to become Batwoman seems a bit ... shallow, honestly. Or if not precisely shallow, then at least not very well considered.

As usual, Williams' artwork is superb. The really fascinating moment comes when we see, graphically, the situation that partially inspired Kate to become Batwoman; the artwork goes slightly toward the unusual layouts that characterize the modern part of the story ... but only slightly, showing that the decision hasn't quite been made yet.

In the backup story, "Pipeline, Chapter 2" (Rucka/C. Hamner), Montoya starts investigating the bacground of the human trafficking group that she broke up the previous issue. She quickly discovers that it's a much bigger thing that it first appeared, and calls in the Huntress to help her. (Huntress, for whatever reason, has gone back to the costume that doesn't make her look like a stripper in waiting, which is appreciated.) Again, the brevity of the chapter makes it a bit frustrating; just when things get going good, it's over. The battle sequence is kind of awesome, though. Hamner does very good work, as usual; the last page is oddly much more stylized than what comes before -- though with that villain, I suppose you have to go for some sort of stylization.
Very Good; Highly Recommended

Madame Xanadu #17 (Matt Wagner/Amy Reeder Hadley/Richard Friend)
"Broken House of Cards, chapter 2: Popular Satanics"
In which Madame Xanadu winds up investigating a suburban Satanic circle wanna-be group, in her quest to help Elizabeth Reynolds, whose body is doing some really alarming things beyond her control. (The plagues of insects coming from her mouth would be the most appalling, I'd think.) She also runs into another detective -- not for a wonder, the Phantom Stranger -- who seems to be somebody that we're supposed to know, but who just isn't that familiar to me. In the end, the villain stands revealed, along with the reason that Madame's working ... well, didn't work. I have to admit, I really do enjoy how Wagner has taken this character out of the DCU and made her work on her own.
Good; recommended

elsewhere/media relations: glee, "ballad" vexations

2009-11-19T22:20:42Z

Did you ever run across one teeny tiny small thing in an episode or something that just bugged you so much you wanted to smack the people responsible? And you know it's tiny, and you know it's not meant the way they said it, and you still want to smack them?

In last night's episode of Glee, they made the students pair up with each other to sing ballads to each other, as it would be required at sectionals. Fine and dandy. And the students were paired randomly by picking names out of a hat, which allowed for people to be paired in hi-larious ways. The club has an interesting yet very Hollywood mix of apparent ethnicities -- a black boy and girl, Matt and Mercedes, and an Asian boy and girl, Tina and .... They have, interestingly enough, resisted the temptation to pair everyone up romantically along ethnic lines. So far, so good. For last night's episode, the black guy, Matt, was supposedly out sick, leaving Mr Schuester, the teacher, to pair off with the student who he discovered had a crush on him. Larf riot! And then Tina pulled a piece of paper out of the hat, and said: "Other Asian."

Ha.

Ha.

Ha.

Here's the thing: Glee club only has 12 students. They've been going for several weeks in the show's time. Mr Schu is practically neurotic about trying to be a good mentor to his students. You're telling me that after all this time, he wouldn't know the student's name? Moreover, he wouldn't know how humiliating it would be for that student to have it stated in public that the teacher couldn't remember the guy's name? Mind, it's also possible -- perhaps even probable -- that Tina said that on her own, as an insult to someone who might well have been one of her persecutors. Which ... OK, but in that case, the teacher should have said something. It shouldn't have passed unnoticed. And in either case, quite honestly, it feels vaguely like the powers that be were trying to avoid giving him a name because once he has a name, he'd actually maybe get lines, and the speaking cast is quite crowded already.

I suppose I shouldn't be terribly surprised. They screwed the pooch rather badly the last time they brought up anything like ethnic issues played for comedy, in the episode "Throwdown", but that was easier to get past, since they were trying to make a point -- albeit badly, and the point was actually quite quite wrong -- and the good intentions were practically glittering on their sleeves. (And, in fact, in light of later revelations about Sue Sylvester, the episode makes a great deal more sense ... though the point Schu makes is still quite quite wrong.) In "Ballad", this was just a small moment played straight up for comedy ... and they should have known better. Anyone thinking about it for a tenth of a second would have known better. It's not true to the characters as they've built them, it's not true to the situation, and it's wrong on its face. Plus, it's just plain not funny.

To be sure, last night's episode was wildly uneven. One thing they did right was showing other parents, finally, and how they react to the news that their children are going to have an untimely baby, which the entire school including faculty already knew. Finn's mother was hurt, but supportive; Quinn's parents threw her out. There's also the gay kid Kurt with a crush on Finn, and Finn having the brains of a flea (and, to be fair, being a teenager) has not the slightest idea how to handle it. And the actual crush plot with the teacher and student was handled fairly well, and done in one, which is good. And we will not speak of Mercedes' advice to Puck, which was not only wrongheaded, but possibly also wrong for the character as we've seen her built to date. (She seems to have very firm ideas about what's right and wrong, and to tell someone that they should just shut up about what's true in order to make life easier for someone else doesn't seem in character.) It wasn't, overall, a bad episode, and it had some very good moments in it.

But that "Other Asian" crack ... it still nags, for some reason. It's a tiny, small thing. I know this, I absolutely know it. It just ... vexes me.

It vexes me, you hear?

comickal: recently read, girls on newsprint edition

2009-11-11T23:54:29Z

Yeah, been a while, hasn't it? So let's see if we can manage a few short(ish) faster-paced reviews, just to get my hand back in, shall we? Let's shall.

Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love #1 (Chris Roberson/Shawn McManus; DC/Vertigo)
The latest in the Fables series spinoffs, we follow Cinderella, Fabletown's spy extraordinaire, as she sets off on her latest mission: to determine who's been sneaking magical artifacts from the fallen Homelands, post Fables war, into the mundy world and to stop them. She asks Frau Totenkinder for some help, for a price that's left unspecified for now but is certain to be fairly high. We also see that Cinderella runs a shoe shop in Fabletown, with her assistant -- who feels much more put-upon than he actually is -- trying to run a functioning business in the frequent absence of his leader. It becomes clear almost immediately that putting an even mildly ambitious person in that sort of position is the sort of thing that Will Not Go Well -- although, again, that's only set up in this issue, and we'll have to wait for the payoff. Overall, it was a lot of fun, consistent with the characterization of Cinderella as we've seen her in the main Fables series (I've said it before, but Prince Charming married three fairly awesome women). The only small glitch was figuring out when in the Fables timeline the story takes place, as it turns out to be very particular. It's after the Fabletown war, but before the arrival of Mister Dark, as the Underwood still exists at that point; I wonder if perhaps the series was maybe planned to come out about a year ago, and something delayed it. In any event, McManus' artwork maintains the overall look and tone of the Fables series while also being more or less its own thing.
Very Good; Recommended

Stumptown #1 (Greg Rucka/Matthew Southworth; Oni)
In which Rucka goes for the modern noir detective story. We start near the end, in which Dex is being shot by someone, and wind back to the beginning. Dex -- whose first name is apparently Dexedrine, which will tell you something about her background right there -- is a Native American detective living in Portland, Oregon, trying to care for her younger brother, whom everyone in the neighborhood seems to love. They're not so happy with her, however. Dex, it seems, has a major gambling problem. She runs up more than she can repay at the local casino, and gets roped in through those debts into trying to run down the daughter of the casino owner; said daughter has suddenly just dropped off the face of the earth. This being a detective story, we discover almost immediately that there are all sorts of things that Dex hasn't been told about what's going on. It seems to be getting set up to be a classic story of dames and double-crosses, only the detective in this case is a woman, which may or may not also truncate the classic "find the dame who then seduces the detective and then does him wrong" part of the story. (NOTE: I've seen some other reviews, and for reasons which utterly escape me, almost everyone is assuming that Dex is a lesbian. The only textual support for it seems to come from Dex commenting that the girl she's been asked to find could have run away with a man or a woman. It would not be unusual for Rucka to create a tough lesbian detective -- see also: Renee Montoya, Kate Kane's Batwoman -- but there doesn't seem to be a lot more there, at the moment.) Southworth's artwork is hard-edged, heavy-lined and dark, matching the mood of the story perfectly. For what it's worth, I'm glad that this is coming from Oni, which seems to aim for graphic novels and collections more than it does single issues. This story seems strongly like it will read better in collections -- though I assume those collections will lack the backmatter, like Southworth's explanation this issue of how he came up with the look and content of the art -- and may be a harder sell in individual issues.
Excellent; Highly recommended

Invincible Presents: Atom Eve and Rexplode #1 (Benito Cereno/Nate Bellegarde; Image)

In which we go into the past, before the Invincible War, and see how Rexplode and Atom Eve, a.k.a Samantha Wilkins, met. We start with Rexplode's story, which turns out to be very grim indeed. His family is grindingly poor, driving Rex to steal food. He's seen by a man who gets intrigued by his apparent talents, and who then follows him back to his home and makes a proposition to Rex' father ... who sells his son to someone he doesn't know, essentially for a few groceries. Rex is made to endure all sorts of body modifications, which allow him to explode things with sufficient kinetic energy. (He throws balls at his targets. A lot.) It becomes clear to the reader long before it dawns on Rex that perhaps, just perhaps, he's not working for the good guys that he thought he was. But before he can quite figure out what to do with this concept, he meets Atom Eve.

I really really wish that Kirkman would outsource every issue of the main Invincible title in which Atom Eve appears to Cereno so that she could get some more interesting characterization. She only appears on the last page of this first issue, but presents with a lot more attitude and is a much more interesting character, in a one page appearance, than Kirkman has ever managed. This was also true of the first Atom Eve miniseries that Cereno wrote. I get that in the main title, she's a supporting character, whereas Cereno gets to write her as the main character of his minseries, and so she actually has to be more interesting; she holds the center. I get all that, I really do. But Kirkman has only ever written Eve as an archetype of The Girl. You want her, but you can't have her. Miracle of miracles, you get her ... and then your enemy punches her guts out and kills her, motivating you to kill him (you think). But then, more miracles of miracles! she reassembles herself and she's back to life, and gave herself a boob job in the bargain! And yet ... somehow doesn't quite manage to be that interesting a character, despite everything.

Anyway, all that said, Cereno and Bellegarde do their usual excellent work in this miniseries, producing strong characterization and story and artwork. It's very enjoyable, and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series.
Excellent; Highly recommended

Hector Plasm: Totentanz (Cereno/Bellegarde and others; Image)
Very different in feel from the first Hector Plasm, which told more straight-ahead stories. This one contains not only stories, but recipes, and songs (sort of). The quality does feel rather more variable than expected, but overall, it's still a very entertaining and interesting look at the character and his life and times. And also the occasional ghosts and skeletons and whatnot. One of the stories, "Hector contre la danse macabre", is meant to be read in conjunction with composer Camille Saint-Saens piece "Danse Macabre", with story beats coordinated to the music. Happily, Nate Bellegarde then put together this NOT SAFE FOR WORK piece (contains full frontal comics character nudity), synchronizing the visual and audio beats as intended.
Excellent; Highly recommended

World's Finest #1 of 4 (Sterling Gates/Julian Lopez, Bit; DC)
Adventure Comics 3/506 (Geoff Johns, Michael Shoemaker/Francis Manapul, Clayton Henry; DC)
Red Robin #5 (Christopher Yost/Ramon Bachs; DC)
I put these three titles together because the first two, between them, show how frustrating Red Robin itself is. All three involve Red Robin; in World's Finest, he teams up with Nightwing -- Chris Kent, not Dick Grayson, who's off being Batman -- to take down an operation by the Penguin, who has managed to kidnap Flamebird. (Side note: since I abandoned the Superman side of the DCU back when they were having a terrible time getting any of the Superman titles to ship, I had no idea that there had been "time storms" or some such, which propelled Chris Kent through about 15 years of physical development in only a few months. I also had no idea that he was Zod's son. It was fairly startling. But I digress.) In Adventure, Conner "Superboy" Kent, trying to get back in touch with his past, tracks down Tim and helps him out with a mess he's gotten into. And in Red Robin, Tam Fox winds up delegated to track Tim down, for no apparent reason -- seriously, Lucius would send his daughter after Tim, knowing the sorts of things he could be getting into? His daughter? Sorry, don't buy that. But anyway, there she is. And there Tim is, post mauling. (I will also just note that a biologically human vigilante without a spleen, doing the sorts of things he does, is taking one hell of a risk.) The thing is, World's Finest manages to advance the idea that Tim is still trying to find Bruce, searching for odd and obsure clues -- it feels like it takes place long after the current Red Robin arc has ended. And in Adventure, we see, for the first and only time so far, Tim articulate why he's chosen to be Red Robin, an identity for which he can only have the deepest loathing. Or, more precisely, we see Conner figure it out, and then he and Tim talk about it. We haven't gotten any of that in the main Red Robin title, and at this point, we should be.
World's Finest: Very good; Recommended.
Adventure Comics: Very Good; Recomended.
Red Robin: ... Meh.

Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape #6 of 6 (Ivan Brandon/Cliff Richards, Prentis Rollins)

One of the more headscratching things to come out of Final Crisis. On the one hand, it was different and experimental in a way that DC seldom is. On the other ... by the time you get to the end, all you can think is, "All of this is for THAT result? Why didn't they just ASK him?" In any event, the title ends in a way that seems to set up the new (and dreadfully misnamed, no doubt) Global Peace Agency, with Nemesis as its chief. It seems to be a replacement for the now-destroyed Checkmate, with a broader brief, and fewer checks on its power. Its brief is to prevent the next Crisis; it will, of course, utterly and absolutely fail at that. It is, in fact, failing at that at this very moment, with Blackest Night zombies running around all over the place.

A moment from the High Horse, if you will: One of the terribly frustrating things about DC's various crises is the really odd lack of followthrough in some places. For example, at the end of the Crime Bible: The Books of Blood miniseries, Renee Montoya was accidentally head of the Religion of Crime. And then when Final Crisis came along, she just ... wasn't, anymore, and now in Detective, Alice has come out of nowhere to take charge. At the end of Final Crisis, Renee Montoya had been drafted by Checkmate to be head of the Global Peace Agency, gathering the task force of 51 Supermen who were to defeat Darkseid, only to arrive and discover that Earth-prime's Superman was back and handling things just fine, thanks. And now ... she's not. It does seem that there should be some exploration of what happened and the effects before you go blithely off to the next thing. I mean, it wouldn't take all that much to tell us how she got out of all these commitments, would it? But I digress.
Interesting; no recommendation

Power Girl #6 (Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray/Amanda Connor; DC)

Have I mentioned that I absolutely love this series? No? Well, I absolutely love this series. It manages to take on the sorts of Serious Things that a superhero story must do -- for certain values of serious, of course; New York getting levitated by a hyperintelligent ape's spaceship is only just so serious, after all. At the same time, it never loses its sense of humor and fun. Power Girl actually enjoys being a superhero. At the same time, she enjoys being Karen Starr, if not quite as much -- it's certainly the more aggravating side of her existence.

One of the things I've never understood about superhero comix is the secret identity thing. Take Power Girl, for example: six foot tall buxom blonde, never to be found in the vicinity of Karen Starr even when they logically ought to be. Just how hard can it be to make that connection? And in the last two issues, Palmiotti and Gray have actually played with that a little, having someone discover Power Girl's secret identity. She doesn't know who it is yet, though undoubtedly she will soon.
Excellent; Highly recommended.

Detective Comics #858 (Greg Rucka/JH Williams III, Cully Hammer)
In which we start seeing Batwoman's origin story, with perhaps a tiny bit of Alice's origin story and the modern story mixed in. We meet Kate and her sister Beth as children, and see their mostly happy home lives. Certainly, they're frustrated by their father's frequent absences, and also frustrated when they're made to move yet one more time, but still basically happy. That all comes to an end in London, where their family is attacked, presumably by the Religion of Crime, during the girls' birthday outing with their mother. She's killed, and it seems that Beth is killed as well. In the modern frame, Kate is analyzing some of Alice's blood to see if it's her sister or not, and ignoring her father's demands and pleas for her to talk to him. In the backup story, "Pipeline, chapter 1", Renee Montoya as the Question wraps up the first part of her investigation into a slavery ring, rescuing not only the girl she was after but several more. (One wonders what the rest of "Pipeline" is supposed to be, if chapter 1 ends like that.) I actually feel a bit sorry for Cully Hammer; he's been doing very good work on The Question backup story in Detective, but has been totally overshadowed by the amazing things that Williams is doing with Batwoman.
Excellent; Highly recommended

Wonder Woman #37 (Gail Simone/Bernard Chang)

You know ... I wonder if perhaps Simone is aiming at nothing other than an essential refounding of Wonder Woman's story with this arc. After all, Diana's last two origin stories don't really work any more; she's surely observed man's world quite enough (and the current setup of her story seems to assign that role to Hippolyta as a previous Wonder Woman, anyway), and she's no longer functioning as an ambassador. After "Amazons Attack", the Themiscyran embassy seems to be gone, and she's actually working for the US government. Which brings up the question ... what's she doing here, anyway? If the issue is that she's been expelled because she no longer thinks as her people believe she should, because she also worships unfamiliar gods, then that brings her story into alignment with the other two of DC's alleged Trinity: Batman and Superman both lost their parents to create themselves, as well, albeit at much younger ages, and Superman doesn't really remember losing his. In any event, this issue is sort of wildly unbalanced. I do wish the Donna Troy part of it would just end; having her made insane by Genocide, even though nobody else who contacted Genocide was, makes less than no sense. I'm curious about what's going on with the Amazons; parthenogenic pregnancies after all this time? And Achilles seems like an honorable man being forced to do progressively more dishonorable things; I suspect that he may wind up rebelling against Zeus and Ares sometime soon. (The Ares ghost thing was just ridiculous, really.)

All that said, the one major knock against the most recent story arcs is that, the two issue thing with Black Canary aside, this thing with Alkyone and Achilles and Zeus' big plan is taking FOREVER. I have the vague, nebulous impression that it's in part because Diana isn't really doing anything with Final Crisis or Blackest Night, so she needed some sort of epic storyline to match the guys. (Yes, she had an important role, of sorts, in Final Crisis, and yes, there's a Blackest Night: Wonder Woman on the way. However, neither of those events is going to be reflected back in the main title, whereas Final Crisis rebooted the entire Batman line, and has had some interesting aftereffects over in Superman's chunk; Blackest Night showed up in this week's Red Robin, and is actually going to effectively suspend publication on Batman and Robin for three months.)
Interesting; no recommendation.

Something of a side note: it's fascinating to see how the solo-female superhero titles from the DC universe are doing relative to each other. Surprising, one way and another. From the Top 300 Comics for October 2009 chart from ICV2, the rankings for October for those titles:

#19 Detective Comics (Batwoman and the Question)
#51 Batgirl
#68 Supergirl
#76 Power Girl
#77 Wonder Woman

That Batwoman and the Question have been able to sustain Detective at a very high sales level is very impressive. That Batgirl is doing so well, relatively speaking, is baffling. (Something to judge by: Stephanie Brown is now outselling "Superman: World of New Krypton", Superman and Action -- though that may all be an indication of the weakness of the Superman franchise at the moment, rather than the strength of Batgirl.) To be sure, there's only a few hundred issues between Power Girl and Wonder Woman. Unfortunately, it does seem to show that people just don't quite "get" Wonder Woman these days; she really ought to be doing better.

elsewhere/media relations: "harlequin is publishing WHAT?"

2009-11-10T01:38:49Z

Media Relations: harlequin is publishing WHAT?/ November 9, 2009:

So Harlequin is going to be publishing Gay and Lesbian romances. And, like, smutty books.

No, really.

No ... really.

Carina Press [...]

... Most likely, to the extent that gay romances get published, they're going to be M/M romance rather than gay -- that is, aimed and oriented at their women readers, rather than at the gay market. Developing a new client base would be massively difficult, after all, and they've had Torquere and Samhain and Dreamspinner and Ravenous Romance and (somewhat accidentally) Cleis Press to show them that yes, there are lots and lots of women out there who will read stories of men in love and/or gettin' it on. And Carina, as long as people know that it's a Harlequin imprint, would be a desperately hard sell to gay bookstores and gay male readers. After all, men have long been conditioned to run screaming into the woods at the very sight of a Harlequin romance, because gooshy books that women like are icky! Icky icky icky! (We men are delicate flowers that wilt at the mere mention of women's literature and/or romance. Be gentle with us.) [...]

...I have to admit, I am rather curious as to how Harlequin's M/M books will turn out. My main issue with the M/M romances that I've read is that the men frequently aren't particularly realistic, but then, I'm never quite sure how realistic romances are supposed to be. After all, they're a fantastical sort of literature, entirely by design. It seems rather pointless to harp at fantasies for not being real. I suppose my particular taste in romantical literature would be for more real men, though. Somehow, that seems to make for a story that works better....

personal: why you should never shop while hungry, especially at whole foods

2009-11-06T20:52:18Z

Because at some point, you will go into a hunger induced food fugue. And you will think that you're still in control, but oh no no no no NO! You are not! And even if you manage to retain some measure of sanity, you will reach two points that will show just how out of control you have been.

The first is the cash register, at which point you will wind up saying, "Wait, I spent how much on food?" But at this point, surrounded by food and hungry, you are still in the grips of the fugue. You will not come out of it until you are at home and putting things away.

And at this point, you will be having with yourself a conversation that is somewhat like the following (specifics will vary, of course):

- Organic fruit, well, OK, I'll eat that ... Huevos rancheros sauce? Really? well, OK, I know what that really is and it's from Hatch and I know what I'm going to do with it eventually, so that's OK ... Some bread of the usual sorts, OK ... Beef that was on sale! Joy! ... Bison chuck roast, OK....

- Wait, what? Bison chuck roast? Really?

- Huh. Bison chuck roast.

- What the hell am I supposed to do with THAT?

- Well, at least it was on sale.

(OK, yes, I know what to do with a chuck roast. It's just ... bison? Really? What the hell was I thinking? [That it was food and on sale, probably.])

(For some strange reason, not only have I been cooking a lot more lately, but it's involved more and more ingredients of the "No, really, what the hell was I thinking there?" category. Which, granted, makes for more interesting meals. Sometimes much TOO interesting, if you see what I mean and I think you do.)

The one slow cooker recipe for bison that I've seen advises cooking it on low for 20 hours, which seems OK, more or less. Though I wonder if cooking it for a shorter time on high would work.

And just to complicate things, the film festival starts this week, so I won't actually be home for any meals from Sunday through the following Sunday. Hope bison freezes well.

random: recent events

2009-11-06T19:23:45Z

Every once in a while -- every great once in a while -- I run across something that Dan Savage has said that makes me not utterly loathe him. For a short time, anyway.

Every great once in a while. For a very short time.

elsewhere/grim amusements: "maine says nay"

2009-11-04T14:02:08Z

Grim Amusements / November 4, 2009: maine says nay

...Given Maine's history, the result should have surprised no-one. The plain fact is, majorities will not choose to recognize civil rights of any minoritiy of their own free will. It simply will not happen. Whenever this sort of thing comes up for a vote, it allows the majority to say, "We don't like you, we don't want you, and we think you are not human enough to share our rights." And they do, and they will. DC has one thing right; it refuses to allow people to vote on rights enumerated in its Human Rights Act, because they will use that opportunity to express prejudices and reject minorities, as Maine has done here.

Am I saying that we should give up, give out, give in? No, of course not. I am saying that we're going to have to go back and do this again and again and again, in all the same places and in different ways, before this is finally going to stick. And if history is any guide, we've only seen the leading edge of resistance at this point.

Some people like to refer to the Civil Rights era, likening this struggle to that one. But historically, looking at that struggle, the way this eventually works is for the laws either to come out of the courts -- or, more rarely, from legislatures that are ahead of the people they represent -- and then for the states to essentially get battered into resentful submission by lawsuits from affected minorities, with support from the court system which says to the state, "This will happen." That level of support from the courts and the legislatures does not yet exist for gay rights. It is, surprisingly enough, coming; it's just not there yet....

random: fall back

2009-10-25T02:17:55Z

One should note that Daylight Savings Time doesn't end in the US for another week, on Sunday, November 1 at 2AM(ish). And, just to make life confusing, DST started in South America last week. However, DST ends in Mexico and in Europe this week. That said ... What an interesting way to remind people about the fall clocks change.

Wouldn't work for spring, though.

random: mad slashers ahoy!

2009-10-20T19:05:11Z

Things pop up in the oddest places...

The Steamy Hot Fuzz Slash Fiction Tweets: October 19th, 2009 : Edgar Wright Here:

If you don’t follow myself, Mr Simon Pegg or Mr Nick Frost on Twitter, you missed out on a semi sequel to HOT FUZZ yesterday in the form of some very steamy tweets.

It all started with a discussion about X Factor’s identical twins John & Edward and a joke by me about slash fiction…

Which leads quickly to

@edgarwright: You want HOT FUZZ slash fiction? You got HOT FUZZ slash fiction. http://bit.ly/EU8SY Enjoy.
about 22 hours ago from web

@simonpegg All power to the slashers I say. I’m deeply flattered that anyone would take mine and @edgarwright’s balls and run with them.
about 21 hours ago from TweetDeck

And thence to

@simonpegg “said Danny as he unbuttoned Angel’s police issue riot suit”
about 17 hours ago from TweetDeck in reply to edgarwright

@edgarwright “Danny gripped his extendable Asp. It could do some serious damage…in the right hands.”
about 16 hours ago from web in reply to simonpegg

@nickjfrost “That’s a lovely big truncheon.” said Danny. (sound of slide whistle.) the end.
about 16 hours ago from Tweetie in reply to simonpegg

And so on. As one does, when one is writing such things about a character one has played oneself.

And, of course, the comments go more than slightly mad. As they do.

comickal: kids

2009-10-19T20:41:18Z

The Knight Life » Archive » This One Black Kid: All I have to say is, I was kids 2-5. (For certain pre-1980 values of kid 2, of course.)

Yeah ... think I'm hoping that this art style doesn't stick. It really doesn't match the story as well as the regular art style, for all that the normal style is highly variable. Surely the point is that absurdist things are happening to vaguely ordinary-like people (for certain quite peculiar values of "ordinary" and sometimes also "people") and that just works better with a slightly more realistic art style. I mean, geez, noses, at least!

One of the downsides to being a supervillain.

On this day, A Certain Someone reminds me of the Sphynx. (You know who you are.) Only, you know, usually with less fleeing. (Though, given today, probably there should be fleeing by some people.)

So .... this generation will be just like their parents at that age, then. And, come to think of it, their grandparents.

You know ... he's got a point about Apple.

..."Puppy"?

A question for the ages.

I'm sure that would be ... effective.

random: for that very special headache

2009-10-16T20:58:34Z

Who knew that we'd need this more after Obama's election?

elsewhere/grim amusements

2009-10-16T20:49:44Z

grim amusements / October 16, 2009 / hiv/aids in blacks in the united states:

Huh.

So in other words, HIV/AIDS in blacks in the US looks almost exactly like HIV/AIDS in Africa.

I can't figure out if that's more encouraging or disturbing.

On the one hand, hopefully it will help, at least a little, to reduce some of the ostracising of bisexuals and gays in black communities and neighborhoods. And maybe, if the information gets out where it's needed, it will help empower both women and men to protect themselves with condoms. (Though, sadly, considering the ferocious infection rate among teens -- who really aren't great at thinking ahead and thinking of consequences ... well, one can hope.)

On the other hand ... well. I don't want to contribute to the profoundly stupid noise on the whole "down low" issue ... but I'm not entirely sure that I quite believe these findings....

random: how very ... unexpected

2009-10-15T16:35:56Z

Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Part Six of Three - And Another Thing… - And Another Thing... - Eoin Colfer

I hadn't even heard that this was in the works. Authorized by Adams' widow and estate. Adams himself seems to have planned to write another book -- he was reportedly dissatisfied with "everybody dies" as an ending -- but died himself before he could get to it. Adams left some notes about what he wanted to do, but Colfer didn't use them. For what it's worth, it seems to be getting fairly good reviews; the only specific complaint that I've seen is that it's too long. (That said, all of the reviews have more than a hint of "Oh, thank goodness, it's NOT AWFUL!" about them. I'm not at all sure that reviews should sound so relieved about the quality of a book, somehow.)

Don't know if I'll give it a try or not.

comickal: poison!

2009-10-13T20:21:46Z

Yes. Yes, it is.

This is not a typical side effect of bean poisoning. (And, yes, bean poisoning is actually possible ... though I must admit that I hadn't heard of this issue before. However, that one I knew about. Though one does wonder what's going on in south Asia to make their so much stronger.)

Modern political philosophies at work.

What a ... unique way to deal with the situation. (Also, this would require all-women roller derby teams with spears, just for the full ironickal effect. Or something like that.)

I suppose encouraging a Canadian invasion would be pointless, woudn't it?

Strangely, I actually used to do that around some people when I was a kid. For precisely the same reason, too.

Pretty sure that everything after the first panel falls into the "mom" category and is not, in fact, an actual job requirement.

comickal: nerdliness and education

2009-10-06T23:08:38Z

Apropos of today's Grim Amusements entry... And yes, some days that is about the size of it.

The real reason why phys ed is dying out. Because the grownups remember...

Ah, nerds and exercise.

Witness the high regard in which nerdly professions are held.

Well, that's a different way to fight crime.

How ... Optimistic?

Actually, I'm pretty sure the word he was looking for WAS "anal" (No, no, perfectly SFW and/or small children.)

Well ... I suppose that is an advantage of actually requiring technological intervention.

One would always want to be both comfortable and stylish at such a time.

What an oddly appropriate use of Culture Club. (Mind, this storyline kind of just ... wanders away, for some reason.)

And that's what happens when you mess with Cthulu kitty.

Well ... I'm not quite sure what the deer and the antelope have to do with it.

Another thing about relationships that it's best not to think about. EVER. (Sooner or later, she's going to think about what else he does with that, and then she's really going to be freaked out.)

You know, in all the reviews professional and otherwise and all the other stuff I heard about Stargate Universe ... the word "awesome" somehow utterly failed to be even vaguely among them. Until now.

elsewhere/grim amusements: "smoking is SO gay!"

2009-10-06T17:33:59Z

So ... this started out as something light and fluffy in Media Relations about the actual parody ad (yes! it's parody! I get it this time! really!) and, um, well ... then it veered. Almost immediately, in fact. I don't know how. It just happened.

New Anti-Smoking Ads Warn Teens 'It's Gay To Smoke'

elsewhere/grim amusements: smoking is SO gay!: OK, yes, I do get that it's the Onion and it's parody.

Sad thing is, allowing for some exaggeration, there's almost no part of it that isn't at least somewhat true. Despite being, at least on the male side, as a group so image-and-body-conscious that we're the only group of men for whom anorexia is actually an issue, a rather staggering number of gay men smoke. [...] So that nearly obsessive gym thing so many of us go through? Pretty much all about the shiny shiny muscles and not so much about the actual health benefits. Not everyone, of course. Certainly not YOU, oh no no no no! But I'm sure that every single one of us has seen someone go to the gym, work themselves into a veritable lake of sweat, then they shower, clean up, dress, go outside ... and light up.

The part with the kids, while, yes, exaggerated, is really the saddest part. Because, honestly, most kids really would rather risk cancer and lung disease than be thought gay....

sportif: rio gets 2016 games

2009-10-02T17:30:13Z

EDIT:
elsewhere/grim amusements: they go to rio! de janeiro! (a substantially reworked and expanded version of the entry below.)

BBC SPORT | Olympics | Rio to stage 2016 Olympic Games:

Brazil will become the first South American country to host the Olympics, after the city of Rio de Janeiro was chosen to stage the 2016 Games.

Rio won a majority of the 95 votes at the meeting in Copenhagen, eliminating Madrid in the final round. Tokyo and Chicago had been knocked out earlier.

Earlier, Brazil's president told IOC members "it was time time to light the Olympic flame in a tropical country".

Chicago's early exit was a surprise, with bookmakers making them favourites....

I would like to thank the Chicago City Council for being so extraordinarily reluctant to guarantee the costs of the games that even the IOC had to notice, despite later delivering and reaffirming said guarantee. (Also, no cookie for the city council for that craven cowardice and caving to Hizonner da mayor.) I would like to thank the USOC for being such outstanding dickwads that they announced an Olympic cable network, while having disputes with the IOC not only about that very selfsame network, but a major ongoing dispute about the amount of revenues allocated to the IOC by the USOC. I would like to thank President Obama for dinging his public celebrity and credibility by going to pitch Chicago at the selection committee meeting, as maybe now, he'll get on with the business of governing -- though, given how badly he's been doing in some aspects of that, maybe we'd be better off with a celebrity president, at that. But, honestly and genuinely, I would like to thank the IOC for deciding to go where no Games has gone before.

EDIT: And the actual vote totals have been released and they are ... surprising. From the Venerable Beeb:

First round: Madrid 28 votes; Rio de Janeiro 26; Tokyo 22; Chicago 18 (Chicago eliminated).
Second round: Rio 46; Madrid 29; Tokyo 20 (Tokyo eliminated)
Final round: Rio 66; Madrid 32 (Rio to host 2016 Games)

Rio came within two votes of winning the games in the second round; they picked up the entirety of Chicago's votes, minus one that drifted to Madrid, as well as two of Tokyo's first round votes.

One might guess that I was not in favor of an Olympic Games in Chicago. Being as I live less than a mile from one major venue, and work more or less directly at one of the minor ones ... no, I certainly was not in favor. That's apart from lunacy like proposing demolishing a brand new gymnasium and swimming pool needed by a high school in favor of a velodrome they can't possibly use. That's apart from the lunacy of putting a "temporary" 80,000 seat stadium and possibly an additional aquatics center in Washington Park, currently on the National Register of Historic Places. Because we know how well things work here when they alter structures on the National Register. (Seriously, Soldier Field looks like an alien flying saucer is having ongoing unlawful and indecent congress with a Roman coliseum -- and the coliseum is not at all happy about things, no it is not.) And frankly, this city does not need the opportunities for corruption that awarding Games contracts would create; we do quite nicely with that without additional impetus, thank you kindly!

Apart from that, one suspects that a summer games in Rio is going to be one of the most unspeakably fun things ever to see. Hopefully, they can avoid the pitfalls of Athens, which wound up with several essentially unfinished venues for its games; they've got nearly as much to build from scratch as Athens did.

And now, a musical interlude!

Or, if you prefer something more authentically Brasil (I think):

Or maybe this:

random: ...well, that's ... different

2009-09-25T04:38:14Z

All's I can say is, Canada is a very different sort of place. Also, apparently the Canadian version of GLAAD must be falling down on the job. If, for example, Subway had tried something like this ad here, they'd have been bludgeoned vigourously about the head and shoulders until they ceased and desisted and went to sensitivity training.

I wonder if this hit the airwaves during Gay Pride Month?

comickal: science!

2009-09-23T21:55:40Z

Perfect last line. Absolutely perfect. Also: I want that poster from the last frame. I want ALA to use it as their guiding theme. (The nuns are, however, unusually terrifying. Which, for fictional nuns, is saying quite something.)

Who knew that retail employment skills could be used in quite that way?

I understand that feeling.

What an .... unexpected way to conquer a rampaging monster.

Sadly, grievously and most unfortunately, there aren't as many secret gay clubs as you might think.

See, my assumption the hygienic habit in question would be to agree with the first assumption -- but not in a moralistic way -- and to wonder why otherwise reasonable adults want to look as though puberty has not yet arrived in a certain critical area ... and why other otherwise reasonable adults would want their partners to look like that. (Also, that thing that they talk about at the end? First, I'd think Probably Not, and second, a Deeply Scarring Mental Image.)

To say nothing of the other talking wildlife.

comickal: goop

2009-09-17T22:41:58Z

You know ... that might actually work.

Yes, it probably does piss them off. Heh.

For reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture, I have wanted to say what she says in frame 4 to many many many many people lately.