Busty Superhero Chicks for Breast Cancer Awareness?

A quick word of warning - clicking on the following link might be NSFW if someone isn't aware what it's really about.  This is in case you have one of those psycho drama-queen feminists that finds sexism around every corner and in every shadow, because if they happen to be looking over your shoulder when you click on it, they'll see busty superhero women fondling their boobs. (!)

Once you're in the clear, check out this story about a site called Superheroes For Breast Cancer Awareness.  What they're actually doing, of course, is the classic breast self-examination for lumps.  Your psycho drama-queen feminist co-worker should recognize the hand gestures for that, but if you're a dude looking at those images just as she's looking over your shoulder, then she's probably going to take it the wrong way.  They're like that.

Anyway, so what do you think?  Do you think that this will help the cause of breast cancer awareness?  Hm.  I kinda wonder how effective this would be, since they're fictional characters?  As far as I know, there hasn't been a prominent superhero woman that has gotten breast cancer.  Would that be a little too much "realism" for the average comics readers if that happened?

I'm still debating this, and I'll get back to you later, but do let me know what you think.

Comics talk: Fear Itself, DC's 52 reboot, and War of the Independents

Lately I’ve gotten heavy into the political talk and not so much on comics talk, so today let me try to balance the scales a bit. 

Marvel’s Fear Itself storyline.

Fear Itself was one of the better blockbuster storylines that Marvel has done in recent years.  Ever since the dreadful Civil War, I tend to be leery of Marvel’s blockbusters, but this one helped redeem their cred a bit.  If they keep this up, then they could get back into my good graces.  :-)  I pretty much ignored the tie-ins, as I usually do with the tie-ins to the blockbuster storylines of both of the big comics companies, because tie-ins to me are what 3D is to the movie industry:  A pretty and unnecessary accessory. 

However, I did read Fear Itself: Home Front, because I was curious to see how they would play out the whole story of Speedball and his return to the city that was the scene of his fall from grace a few years back.  This was nicely done and the responses from the different characters – especially from the woman who lost a child from the tragedy that triggered the Civil War storyline in the first place.  Without giving away much of what happens in the story, let’s just say that her response to his assistance redeemed him a bit in her eyes, but she still can’t forget that she lost a son because of him.  “Forgive, but not forget”, in other words; which is completely logical.  Kudos to Marvel for this one.

DC Comics 52 “reboot”

I’m still reserving judgment on this.  While there is a kind of novelty to rebooting familiar characters, I’m still not sold on what they’ve done so far.  My thinking is “why fix what’s not broken?”, especially in rebooting the whole line of comics, instead of testing it out as an “alternate universe”.  I guess what’s tainting my thinking is their recent Brightest Day series – one so bad and convoluted that I stopped buying them, representing the first time I’ve ever stopped reading a limited series before it was done.  Those who know my love for comics know that this is a rather shocking development on my part!  My fear is that they are taking what they did with BD and expanding it to the whole DC franchise.  I hope I’m wrong about it, but if the whole of DC gets infected with this BD virus, then I might have to stop reading DC altogether – which would be an even greater shocking development.   Let’s hope that it doesn’t come to that!  

War of the Independents limited series

I really wanted to love War of the Independents, since it’s a collection of characters not with the “Big Two”, but what should be its strength is actually its weakness.  There’s just too many characters to keep up with!  Plus, having superhero characters together with cartoony characters like Gumby just doesn’t make sense.  Granted, it’s a comic book and pretty much anything goes – “suspend your disbelief” and all that - but the overabundance of characters means that too many characters are trying to get your attention, so it ends up that none of them do. 

Also, the different styles of art virtually with every page can sometimes get jarring, and it’s really a distraction from the story flow.  Anytime you have to remove yourself from a story to notice something like that is not good.  I do appreciate the effort and I am totally down with the idea and concept – I just think it needs to be worked a little differently. 

You all know that I am nothing if not opinionated, so here’s my take on what they might try another time:  Same idea, same concept, but try to create stories of characters that are similar; for example, pair Gumby with Usagi Yojimbo, Bone, Cerberus, Milk, Cheese, and the other cartoony looking characters.  Have one of the artists used to drawing in this cartoony style to do the artwork. 

Then another story can be done in an oddball style using Too Much Coffee Man, Zippy the Pinhead, The Flaming Carrot, and perhaps Megaton Man, The Tick, and The Maxx; again by an artist used to drawing in that style. 

Yet other stories could be built around the superheroes who have certain common themes, like the ghost/zombie/otherwise undead, or those built around a patriotic theme, or perhaps an all-girl story.  Tying them all together can be an overall theme, perhaps all of them saving the universe in their own, special way. 

Anyway, by using this pairing up method of the similar style characters, it gives each of them more of a chance to show what it is about each of them that appealed to their fans, and in the process, perhaps they can attract new fans.  With a little organization, this can really work, and pulled off in the way that I think it can be done, it could do well enough to make the big guy comic companies at least take momentary notice.  With that, you guys would have your own little Occupy moment in the comics world, and that would be an Occupy movement that I could totally support.  :-)

 

Comics Talk: Marvel's Fear Itself

Over the weekend I purchased the first two issues of Marvel Comics' Fear Itself (one series is titled Fear Itself while the other is titled Fear Itself: Front Line)

 My dread fear: I am so afraid that Marvel is going to make this another Civil War; that is, something that has an enormous buildup and a total flop as an ending.  Civil War was such a disappointment for me that it was outdone in epic fail-ness only this year by DC's horribly bad Brightest Day (BD was so bad that I quit on the series!).

After having read both FI and FI:FL, I am cautiously optimistic so far on how this will turn out.  Make that VERY cautiously optimistic.  CW started out well enough, so that's why I have this hesitancy with FI - I don't want to be that disappointed again. 

I think the direction that this series will go will largely depend upon who is selected as "worthy" for all those magic hammers that have dropped out of the sky. 

So for now, I'll reserve judgment until we find out this stuff.  Stay tuned, folks, and be prepared to hold your nose in case this turns into another stinker!  LOL

Year-end Comics talk!

Here we are at year's end, so what better way to end a blog largely about talking comics than to talk comics? Here we go!

In May of 2009, I had answered a question here in regards to whether I had ever given a shot to the nuts of any super dudes I fought. Here is my response from that previous time. In short, I said that us super ladies do nutshots mainly as a last resort, and almost never as the first strike, because the super strength dudes can shake it off fairly quickly (but it still does hurt, judging by their reactions!).

Anyway, in the recent Power Girl, (#19), it shows her giving a nutshot to a giant killer robot, with devastating results! So what happened? The lower half of his body blew up, leaving just bare metal legs in their place! Ouch! See, folks? Us super ladies aren't above such hits if it has the desired result! You shouldn't go around using your superior strength to go beating on ladies anyway, even if they do happen to be super as well! I can honestly say that I have rarely resorted to such a - er, low blow - but I can also say that in no instance did any of the dude's lower torsos explode! Although I'm sure it felt like it did, judging by their reaction!

Next comic! On the last page of this week's Incredible Hulks (#619), Bruce Banner's adult daughter from the future, named Lyra, has just explained why she is not interested in pursuing a father/daughter relationship with him; namely (and to make a long story short), back where she is from, having a father was a reason for shame, because in her future world, women ruled (a feminist dream come true!), and were able to have children without the aid of men. Lyra was brought into existence by way of her mother Thundra going back in time to acquire the Hulk's DNA and using it to create Lyra.

If you will note on the last page posted below, Bruce acknowledged the difficulties Lyra is going to have in this new world of hers, and that she would be better off getting guidance from Bruce's cousin, Jennifer Walters; AKA the She-Hulk. I have to disagree with Bruce's arguments on the last page. If he really wants Lyra to have a better understanding of the world she has chosen to live in, then she should work on establishing a relationship with her father. In the process, she could see why her future world's attitudes towards men were wrong. If Bruce really wants her to accept her new circumstances, then chucking aside a big part of that - having a relationship with her father - is a mistake. Girls in our present time have relationships with their fathers. I'll keep a tab on where this goes, but the writers are missing an opportunity to demonstrate the benefits that daughters can have with a healthy relationship with their fathers.













And speaking of Marvel Comics, I am not sure I like the direction of the recent storyline of Chaos War. I'm not sure what it is that I don't like yet, but it just seems right now to be the Marvel version of DC Comics' Black Lantern storyline. Oh yeah, and speaking of that, I have no idea where they are now going with this Brightest Day storyline. It's all over the place now! There seems to be no real focus or theme going on - it just seems to be moving along looking for a storyline, and it's this close to losing my interest.

I suggest to Marvel and DC to resolve to wrap these grandiose storylines up in 2011!

Okay, I gotta wrap this up for now. I hope you guys all have a great New Year's! See you next year!

Red Hulk is now a wimp!

Check out the cover of Hulk #25, out today!

Back when we didn't know who the Red Hulk was, it seemed like no one could beat him. Now that we know it's the Hulk's old nemesis Gen. Ross, everyone seems to be kicking his ass! LOL

Thor vs. Green Lantern: Who would win?

So who would win in a fight between Marvel Comics' Thor and DC Comics' Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)? Yesterday the USA Today asked that very question, and today you will hear my take on this battle of titans!

I say that it will be Thor. This is not to take away from GL, but in a battle of wills, I feel that Thor wins out simply because he is that much more experienced in battle than GL is. Thor can come so hard and fast on GL that he probably has very little time to react.

Yes, GL can do things like cut off the magic that makes him super strong, or could cause him to change into his alter ego, Donald Blake, or he could do something like teleport Thor into space where he would suffocate and be weakened to the point that GL could beat him (I can't see GL actually killing Thor, but only using the space strategem to weaken him).

However, I don't think GL would have any time to employ any sort of strategy, because GL has to summon up whatever energy he is going to be using, while Thor is already good to go. It will be a short, quick fight with the god of thunder left standing in triumph.

Holy cow! We now know the identities of Red Hulk and Red She-Hulk!

Holy Identity Crisis, Batman! We now know the identity of the Red Hulk and the Red She-Hulk! But I won't reveal it here! Click on the respective links to find out, or if you prefer, go buy this week's Hulk comics.

I gotta think about this one, and whether it makes sense. Just so you know, if you don't want the identities spoiled for you before you read the stories, don't click on the links above, and don't read any possible comments below.

You have been warned!

Ramón Pérez coming up in an issue of Marvel's Dazzler

Hey, guys!

Just so you know, the artist formerly known (and still known as) Ramón Pérez will be featured in part of Marvel's upcoming Dazzler one-shot that comes out on May 26th. If you recall, I brought up Mr. Ramón in a previous blog entry of his stunning webcomic, Kukuburi. Here is further info on his upcoming Dazzler gig from his website. Below is one such example of his artwork from the Kukuburi website. Isn't it awesome? Can you see why now that I still hope that he can find the time to do a pin-up of me? :-)

So anyway Mr. Ramón, I will certainly buy Dazzler when I see it come out! :-D

A trait that She-Hulk and I share in common - besides big boobs!

I see in the cover below that Marvel Comic's She-Hulk and I share something in common. Well yes, big boobs for sure. Uh, yeah - the tight and revealing attire, that's another. Hmm ... you're right, there's also the height, long hair, and curvy figure. Hmph! Okay, look! She accidentally ripped the door off of that taxi! When I was still getting used to my super strength back in college (which was about the time that my strength was REALLY starting to develop), I used to rip car doors off a lot. I felt sorry for my poor dates!

The Disneyfication of Marvel Comics begins!

We knew this was coming, and now the Disneyfication of Marvel Comics begins!

Soon Marvel will be sunshine and lollipops, with cameos from Mickey and Donald!

O Marvel, we loved thee, but now you are about to be "Borged" into a sugary sweet monstrosity. (sniffsniff) (:-(

Family of Jack Kirby to sue for copyrights to his creations

I just HAD to comment on this! The family of Jack Kirby is suing to gain the copyrights to the characters he created. You all know from a previous blog entry how much I was against the acquisition of Marvel by Disney, so I say "Go Kirby family, GO!" If they pull this off, it will be the classical superhero tale of the mighty hero defeating the awesome and terrible giant! And if the Kirby family does win, they should make a comic book out of their story! :-D

Disney buying Marvel Comics: Bad, man. VERY bad.

Sigh. (whimper) Boohoo.... Why am I crying? Check it out: Disney to buy Marvel Comics

I thought Marvel was cool, but not anymore! Marvel sold out, man! The Hulk has now joined hands with the likes of Hannah Montana! Will SpiderMickey cartoons be far behind?

Egad. I just had a terrible thought.

What if the artwork of all of Marvel's titles get "Disney-fied"? The men with that strange, floppy hair. The women with impossibly huge, cutesy eyes. The corny jokes. Oh, and that clumsy and annoying, cutesy pet that always manages to get into trouble! Will Kitty Pryde and her miniature dragon Lockheed go the way of Mulan and her dopey dog, Little Brother? I cringe at the very idea!

(banging head on keyboard) asl;fwein a;oine d;oighwerih flihrioh dfoghiow

A friend of mine told me that it could turn out to be for the better in the long run. It could very well be that Disney gets Marvel-ized rather than Marvel getting Disney-fied. While that would be the height of coolness if it happened, I highly doubt it. I doubt that even Galactus could take on the likes of the Mickey Monolith.

Oh, curse that annoyingly bland mouse for invading one of comicdom's holy grounds! He is vermin indeed! I had planned to post my favorite Marvel comic today, but I just don't have the heart right now. And I might not ever. Sigh.

Excuse me while I throw myself in front of a train. Oh wait. I better not. I have super strength and healing, and I'll only end up damaging the train and its passengers. I think I'll go to a town hall meeting instead and state that I'm in favor of a government health plan. That's probably more dangerous than throwing myself in front of a train.