Saturday, November 17, 2007

Booster Gold #4

I consider myself a jaded superhero/science fiction fan, but I'll admit the setup for next issue threw me for a loop. I was expecting Melodramatic Superhero Time Travel Plot Cliche #4, which gives the protagonist the exact opposite objective.

That is a way to make things interesting, though. Its highly unlikely DC will let them succeed, which means we'll get to see the good guys deal with failure and scramble to fix what they can. However, if they do succeed (and we get a sliver of a chance of this because DC has a big crossover coming up and we know they like to juggle shit around when they have crossovers planned) we get to watch several DC writers frantically try to adjust to the new timeline.

Granted, both options could result in the writers and editors falling flat on their faces, but success really wouldn't be the least bit impressive if there wasn't a decent chance of screwing things up very badly.

Eh.

In kind of a bleh mood lately. Will to blog hovering slightly above nonexistent. Motivation at subterranean levels. Absent-mindedness currently in the stratosphere, so ideas are not really surviving long enough to reach actual blog post form.

Not dead.

Managed to semisubstantially meet at least one blogging commitment.

WFA updates will happen before the end of the weekend.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Pleasantness

I went to the store today expecting Simone's first issue of Wonder Woman, and was surprised by a new Courtney Crumrin story, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen trade at a discount and All-Star Superman.

Wonder Woman starred a version of Diana I like, a version of Nemesis I like, and Themiscyra is not forgotten.

There was a one-page characterization scene between Kyle and Donna in Countdown this week.

Concept art for a Dresden Files comic book. (And a teaser blurb for the tenth book.)

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Oh dear.

Umm....
Hey, don't blame me. Blame society. For better or worse, geeks (and here, I mean male geeks) are considered cool. Not as cool as guys who, you know, are good-looking and have lots of money. But still pretty cool. Obviously, girls can be geeks, too, but they're slightly more limited in what interests they can pursue and still maintain respect in the eyes of the world. Girl gamers? Cool. Girl comic book fans? Cool. Girl doll collectors? Not so much.
Okay, who told this poor guy he was considered cool? Because that was not nice.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Submission Call!

18th Carnival of Feminist Science Fiction and Fantasy Fans

Where: Trouble: More Than Bargained For
When: November 30th
Deadline for Submissions: November 28th
Contact: anna[at]annaoverseas[dot]com and submission form

Special Request:
I'll be looking for any posts that fall into the idea of Feminist Sci Fi and Fantasy, but I'm hoping espeially to see a lot of posts on gaming this month - from Tabletop to LARP, from MMORG to MUDs, from Let's Pretend to CCGs, anything that you'd define as gaming is of interest!


Notice: Accepting Volunteers to Host the 19th Carnival. Email Ragnellthefoul[at]hotmail[dot]com if interested.

Numbers

Kalinara was writing her post about Thunder when she messaged me asking how many college-aged/teenaged black female superheroes (not fully-grown career-aged women like Storm and Vixen, but early 20s/teenagers). I could come up with.

She were stumped at two, Thunder and Empress (Empress who will never be seen again because Peter David couldn't resist making a dumbass pun with her name). I thought of XS, and then realized bitterly that neither she nor Kid Quantum (who was a pretty cool character and the fucking leader of the Legion of Superheroes for a while) counted because they were retconned out in the last reboot in favor of the New Diverse Legion of Super-Heroes (also known as "a large group of white kids, a green kid, a blue kid, and a black kid who almost never gets panel-time").

So we were still at two. We consulted the Museum of Black Superheroes.

Managed to come up with Bumblebee and that one X-woman Grant Morrison introduced (the one with the fly wings who had kids with the chicken-boy).

Beyond that we had Peekaboo for a supervillain who could be redeemed.

Reaching past DC and Marvel properties, I can think of Tesla Strong, the Rocket from Icon and Slingshot from Dynamo 5.

Oh, and that woman who flew in Major Bummer. (I think her name was Val.)

That brings us to 11 total. 4 in limbo (only 1 that I've seen in the last two years). 2 retconned out. 1 a villainess (also in limbo). 1 in a universe no longer published. 3 active in ongoing series.

For blonde college-aged/teenaged women alone I can think of Supergirl, Secret, Arrowette, Spoiler, Wonder Girl, Saturn Girl, Speedy, Arisia, Terra, Buffy, Dagger, Dream Girl, Rose Wilson, Flamebird, Husk, Valkyrie, Dolphin, and Andromeda.

18. Without looking. 6 active in ongoing series. 6 in limbo (4 that I've seen within the last two years). 3 dead. 1 retired. 1 retconned out. 1 retconned into adulthood (but still active).

Now, the white superheroines I listed are just the blondes. That is not counting characters with red, black, or brunette hair. That is just young women with yellow or white hair.

And I didn't have to look up people to come up with 18 blondes. But I had to find a website to jog my memory to think of more than 4 black women.

Something's off here.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Wait a minute.

Isn't 2.5% of "not significant money" not significant enough money to hurt the company if you fork it over?
They currently receive nothing from the use of their content on the Internet; and they are asking for a flat percentage of 2.5% of revenue. The AMPTP wants to pay .3%, and they claim that it's too soon to tell if they can make significant money from offering content on the Internet. Writers and much of the known universe understandably find this a little absurd, especially as members of the AMPTP continue to tell their stockholders about the millions to be made from new media.

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