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.  :-)

 

To the Occupiers: From me to you with love! An Occupy logo!

Unlike most liberals when it comes to the free speech rights of conservatives, I believe that liberals have free speech rights.  They have every right to go out there and do their Occupy thing.  And I've said before that I love liberals.  I really do!  So why am I so hard on them?  Call it tough love.  :-)

However, I also believe that if they are going to spread their message, then they should at least be honest on what they're really about.  With that, I asked the boss to craft this little logo for me to represent what the Occupy movement is really about.  And now to explain the symbols!

The first symbol, of course, represents President Obama.  This sort of "uprising" is what he really wants to do, instead of dealing with the nuances and minutiae of our legislative system to get his desired goals made into law.  Right now, he has to actually work to get this done, and he has to accept compromises, which makes him look bad in the eyes of his fellow anti-capitalist leftists.

The next two symbols are the classic Communist hammer and sickle, and the letter U with SSR in it are in reference to the old USSR, the birthplace of the Communist movement.  This, folks, is what the Occupy movement is really about.  These people want to substitute our legal system with the old, archaic, and so-last-millennium Communist philosophies that has failed everywhere it's been tried - including the old Soviet Union.  But for some reason, these old-school leftists think that they can get it right this time.

And the pie is basically to represent what they believe will happen when things go their way.  Their pie-in-the-sky delusional fantasies, in other words, of a free and open society where we are all equal and we all love each other and no one has more than anyone else, and there is no longer any pain and misery and suffering because we have legislated it out of existence. 

The exclamation point is what it looks like - an exclamation point!  It's to symbolize the passion of the movement - wrongheaded as it is.  Somehow they believe that if they shout "OCCUPY!" then everyone around them - the "99%", - will totally gist on what they're about and join them in an uprising of the worker against the oppressive capitalist system.  All while benefiting from the fruit of our capitalist system of course, with their iPhones, laptops with Wi-Fi, iPads, and so on - and totally oblivious to the irony of it.

So to my liberal friends out there, feel free to utilize the freedom of speech that our country provides; just be honest about what you're truly promoting, and you can do that by using this logo.  One stipulation however:  You must not profit from its usage.  Get some rich liberal One-Percenter to fund the creation of t-shirts, bumper stickers, etc, and tell them to hand it out all free.  To make any sort of profit from its usage would betray the spirit of the Occupy movement, after all! 

Now go out there and Occupy!

Liberals: Let's make a deal. I'll support your cause that corporations are not people if...

I've written on this blog and posted on Facebook long enough that I think most of you will have a pretty good feel for my style of writing.  You all know that when it comes to the issues that I feel strongly about, I'll try to utilize all the passion, wit, wisdom, intellect, and powers of observation that my heart and soul can muster.

Liberals, you know how I've taken on your sacred cow issues and attacked them like you do Republican presidential candidates.  However, what if I were to take all my passion, wit, wisdom, intellect, and powers of observation to use *in favor* of one of your sacred causes?  Imagine me tearing into this issue with all the fervor that you see me take on your other hallowed delusions!  Wouldn't that be awesome - to have me fighting for your cause with the full brunt of my intellect going all out like a pit bull on a steak? 

Okay then!  Time for me to make a little deal with you on the issue of: the personhood of corporations!  You know you hate that and how it benefits the wealthy and privileged in our society.  Now, I can make arguments against the personhood of the corporations and be very good at it - so good that you WILL link my blog posts to your own blogs and Share and Like them on Facebook.  You know that I'm very capable of this!   

And I promise that I'll do this on one condition:  To gain my support on your cause against the personhood of the corporation, you must support my cause FOR the personhood of the unborn.  Think about that for a minute before you reject it out of hand.  If you favor the personhood of the unborn, you will greatly strengthen your own argument against the personhood of the corporation.  If you'll allow yourselves to truly ponder this with the open mind that you say that you have, you know that I'm right.

The unborn are living persons that you will eventually see, hear, touch, and love.  Corporations can never be that kind of person.  The personhood of the corporation is legislative mythology, while the personhood of the unborn is grounded in fact - despite the denial of its personhood also being brought about by legislative mythology.  Funny how that worked out for you guys, isn't it?  In the process of manufacturing the argument against the personhood of the unborn, you inadvertently created the means of establishing the personhood of entities that exist only on the boards of the stock exchanges on Wall Street.  What a bit of irony to bite you in the ass, eh?

As you can see, I've already started, and I can go much, much further in crafting arguments in favor of your cause - if you will only support me in mine.  How will I know that you've accepted my deal?  When I see you guys doing Occupy Planned Parenthood!  Otherwise, I won't believe your "conversion" to my side.  But you've seen the skill of what I'm capable of doing when I got my heart set on something, so I'm hoping that your desire to see the end of the "personhood of the corporation" will be such that you'll consider my offer.  In the process, you'll see that I'm absolutely right about your arguments against the personhood of the corporation being strongly bolstered by your acknowledgment of the personhood of the unborn.  And as an added bonus, you'll get to see me kickin' ass for your cause!   :-)

It will be only after such a revelation that you will see that by agreeing with my deal, you won't be "making a deal with the devil", but instead "siding with the angels".  To be honest, knowing liberals like I do, I don't expect any "takers".  But who knows - you may surprise me.  And I hope you do!  :-)

Happy Halloween!

I hope you all have a scary, scary time tonight!  As for me, I'm going to my local Occupy rally dressed in a 1776 American minuteman outfit and wearing a tricorne hat with teabags hanging off of it! 

Bwahahahahahahahaha!

Thin and Curvy blog

Just had to mention a blog that I'll be keeping an eye on, because it discusses topics that I've brought up before, but it's dedicated to the topic rather than as a once-in-a-while post that I do here.  I'm going to post it to my sidebar as well.

Thin and Curvy

The hypersexualization of women in comics

I think discussing the issue of the hypersexualization of women in comics in a blog titled "Busty Superhero Chick" is probably a good place for such a discussion. :-)

Let's go ahead and start with an explanation of the name of my blog. First, it's meant to be something easy to remember, and I think it is.  Next, it's also a play on you guys and how you generally like your superhero women - with big boobs.  :-)

As for the issue of hypersexualization of women - in short, comics are largely geared to male readers, and the artists tend to be male - so basically it was an inevitability that women would be drawn in such a way as to have proportions that were impossible for a woman to have in real life.  Having female artists helps somewhat, since they would be familiar with what would be realistic and unrealistic in regards to women's body proportions, but the expectation of skimpy or otherwise degrading costumes is such that it's what they draw as well.

And since this question is likely going to come up - what about my costume?  Isn't it rather skimpy as well?  And the cleavage hole isn't exactly what most women would wear in their everyday clothing.  First, keep in mind that it is a superhero costume, so it's supposed to stand out from your regular everyday attire.  Also, I cover up more than most.  You'll note that most of my legs are covered, and my arms are covered entirely.   Initially, the costume design was going to have me wearing just shorts for bottoms, but we decided that the skirt adds a nice feminine touch.  I still wear the shorts that were intended all along, it's just now worn under the skirt.  As for the cleavage hole, it's meant to be a distraction - and the smiley face an additional distraction as well as being a memory device.  So as far as superhero costumes go, I think it's rather conservative, especially when compared to the sorts of costumes that are out there.

For instance, look at the Phantom Lady.  Her top is basically glorified suspenders!  She's a "wardrobe malfunction" waiting to happen.  Every. Single. Time. she goes out to do her hero thing!

Then there's impossible proportions, such as Rob Liefield women.  Most of his women have such strange, oddly proportioned torsos and limbs, and those impossibly tiny pinched-in waists!

And speaking of impossible proportions, consider the character Red Monika of Battle Chasers and her enormous boobs.  For a real woman to have such proportions, her boobs would literally have to be the size of watermelons!  Try strapping two watermelons to your chest and then see if you can get anything done - much less the expected superhero action stuff!

So yes, the hypersexualization of women gets very bad.  No woman can look like these superhero women - not through exercise and dieting, not through surgery, and certainly not through the combination of both.  I'm not sure how to say this without sounding like some mushy feminist, but these kinds of depictions sets unrealistic expectations of how women should look, both to boys and girls.

And yet, consider the market.  Very few readers, both male and female, want superhero women who are fat and ugly.  In order to attract - and keep - readers (who again, are mostly male), then the writers and artists need to make the female heroes attractive and their costumes flattering ("Flattering" can be done without being skimpy, BTW).  

There's also the question of their personalities.  How tough and badass can a superhero woman be and still be womanly?  When is she a woman, and not just a man with a hot bod and boobs?  You understand what I'm saying with that previous sentence?  What I mean is, if she walks like a man, talks like a man, can kick ass like a man, then what makes her a woman?  And yet, do you guys really want a "real" woman for your female superhero character?

That is, do you want her to be complaining about her "female problems" such as periods, cramps, hormonal imbalances, yeast infections, and the like?  Do you want her to be whining about her relationship problems with her significant others, her parents, her GFs, etc?  How much female "whinyness" are you willing to put up with?  Not much, I would bet.  My guess is that you would say, "I have that in real life with my wife/girlfriend/etc!  Why would I want it in my comics?"

So that presents a challenge to both the writers and the artists.  It's a balance to find the right amounts of what would be considered realistic vs the expected exaggerations of the superhero elements in a typical comic book story.  In other words, the unrealistic is expected in a comic book story.; after all, how many women do you know in real life that can lift fully loaded semis over their heads?  But I would also say that reading comic books isn't so much about seeing Wonder Woman lift boulders over her head and the reader expecting to be able to do the same with the right about of dieting/training/exercise; instead, the story is about the message that comes from the story.

We read comics not to learn how to imitate the super abilities of the heroes, but instead to absorb the lessons that are taught from their experiences.  Perhaps that's what the writers and artists should be concentrating on when it comes to the female characters - that is, what lesson will the reader come away with about humanity in general, and if applicable, women specifically?

I tend to believe that most of you won't be interested in stories in which hypersexualization is the message.  Yes, there's always going to be the weird perverts who get off on these hypersexualizations, but there aren't enough of them for most comic companies to make the kinds of profits that eventually finance blockbuster movies.  Instead, I think that most of you want good human interest stories with clear, understandable messages about the human condition, as well as giving the message that "with great power comes great responsibility" - which applies not just to those with super powers, but all of us. 

There's always going to be the hypersexualizations of women in the comics, but as a free-market advocate, I believe that those comics are always going to inhabit the margins of comic book sales, while the more realistic depictions of women are always going to be the bread-and-butter of comic sales.  So fear not, my friends.  But it also doesn't hurt to have the occasional reminder that these hypersexualizations exist, especially when these reminders come from men.  If it gets to the point that you guys can see it, then it must be pretty bad!  LOL

I was trying to think of some way to end this particular blog entry, but instead, I think I'll leave this open-ended in case I get some responses from you all.

Occupy Stormwind!

Yes, that's right, the "Occupy" movement has reached the fortress city of Stormwind!  I'm here in Stormwind as my level 75 human hunter reporting from the mob at Stormwind's entry gates.  I'm now talking to Ella Anderson of Gilneas, one of the founding members of the Occupy Stormwind Movement (OSM).  So Ella, what are you and your group protesting?

Ella:  The fact that the Alliance has been leading our good men and women into many battles costing us untold numbers of lives and taking a severe drain on the economy!  Our military forces are in the Outlands, at Northrend, in the various battlegrounds across Azeroth, and now we're sending our soldiers to fight in the Firelands!  When does it end?  Why can't we make peace with the Horde and all work together?

Me:  The leader of the Horde, Garrosh Hellscream is not exactly a peaceable man - in fact, he hates the Alliance equally as much as King Varian Wrynn of Stormwind hates the Horde.  How could peace be made between two equally hot-tempered leaders?

Ella: That I can't say, except to ask: Are they even trying?  It's like all the citizens of Azeroth are pawns in their little game of enormous egos!  But we are pawns only so long as we allow ourselves to be pawns!  We now want more control over what happens to our lives!  (turns to the crowd behind her):  Free Azeroth!  Free the people!  The citizens of the world demand to be heard! (roar of approval).

Me:  But what about the recent actions of the dragon Deathwing, and of the mysterious Twilight Cult?  How can King Wrynn deal with these problems while trying to satisfy the demands of OSM?

Ella:  That's just it!  The answer's always the same!  Throw our lives away so as to protect the pocketbooks of the Alliance's robber barons!  Who needs the Horde's greedy goblin cartels when we got our own greedy owners of the war industries?  Do you know how many orphans our constant wars create?  Do you know how much less life and coin we would be using up if we could at least work with the Horde?

Me:  So the answer is...

Ella: The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind - the answer my friend is in the winds of change!  And that change is that the people won't stand for being used and abused by its leaders any longer!  No more "For the Alliance" or "For the Horde"!  It's now "For the people of Azeroth!"

Me:  So what are you going to do if an invading Horde force comes down the road here?

(Voice from the crowd):  You know, we should totally connect with members of the Horde so that they can start an Occupy Orgrimmar movement!

(Another voice):  Yeah!  I bet they're even more pissed at Garrosh than we are at the king!

(Yet another voice):  Ella, you should totally get with Jaina Proudmoore about this!  She knows Thrall, and I bet she can convince Thrall to join our cause!

Me: Wait, so Jaina is part of this?

Ella:  Not officially, of course, but she keeps up with our cause. 

Me: Anything else you want to mention before I log off?

Ella:  Yeah!  We also want to protest the utter unoriginality of all the "mom" jokes in Trade Chat!  Dudes, can't you come up with better insults than to constantly be ragging on the moms?  And rape isn't funny, no matter what context you try to put it in!  Don't refer being wiped in a battleground as being raped - just say that you got your asses kicked!  And last, no more [Anal] jokes in Trade!  Damn, that's so juvenile!

Me:  Well, good luck with that.  Trade Chat is pretty much a subculture.  I'll report more on this story as it develops.  Now to log off and go back to reality - by logging on to Facebook!  See you there!

This has been Andromeda the level 75 hunter reporting from the gates of Stormwind!

Zombie month update: I need more zombies!

There's still time everyone, but I need more zombies if I'm gonna have a zombie apocalypse at the end of the month!  I didn't want to do this, but if I have to, I'll bring out the "big sad eyes".  O-O

The boss did offer a suggestion that I'll go ahead and mention.  If you don't want to have a depiction of yourself as a zombie, then how about as a zombie hunter?  What would you look like if you were the classic movie version of a zombie hunter?  That might be as fun to do as making yourself into a zombie!  :-D

Either way, I hope to see some art from you all.  :-)

(practicing her "big sad eyes" in the mirror)