My Bookmarks

I'm going to make myself scarce for a couple of weeks.

I'll be back.

Probably when you've all forgotten about this place.

(Don't worry, I'll get all of your attention back somehow)

In the meantime, amuse yourselves with my archives, my livejournal archives, my blogroll, and the following links from my bookmarks (haven't decided who to add to the blogroll yet).

Click Here for More Links
The Order of the Stick

--Blogs--
Aiee! Run from Kelvin's Brainsplurge!
Blog This, Pal!
The Beat
Beetle's Nest
Big Monkey Comics
A Blog Found On a Garbage Heap
Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog
The Bricktosser
Broken Glass Makes Me Laugh
Center of Gravitas
Comic Book Hoedown
Comic Book Liberation Army
Comic Book Lovers Anonymous
Comics and More
Comics Worth Reading
The Comic Treadmill
Crisis/Boring Change
Dial B for Blog
A Distant Soil
An Ear in the Fireplace
Every Woman is a Goddess
Feministe
Feministing
The Feminist Rage Page
Ferret Press/PANEL Weblog
Fortress of Fortitude
Funnybook Musings
GenderGeek
The Gentle Scent of Pee in your Longbox
Glyphs: The Language of the Black Comics Community
The Great Curve
Greywing's Journal
Gutterninja
The Happy Feminist
Heo Cwaeth
The House of L
Howling Curmudgeons
Hypnoray
The Johnny Bacardi Show
I am not the Beastmaster
Ilyka Damen
Infinite Opinions
Ink and Incapability
Jog the Blog
Lucky White Girl
Mad Melancholic Feminista
Matter Eater Blog
MetroKitty
Mixed Message
Near Mint Heroes
Neilalien
Official Shrub.com Blog
One Woman Army
Pen-Elayne on the Web
Peiratikos
Photon Torpedoes
Postmodernbarney
Precocious Curmudgeon
Quotes Previously From the Door of 707 Beaver
Random Generation
Reading Along
Reappropriate
Resplendant Beard
Ringwood
Royal Academy of Illustration and Design
The Sapient Sutler
Scans Daily
Sententia
Serenity's Journal
The Silent Accomplice
Superfrankenstein
Strange Visitor
Utopian Hell
When Will the Hurting Stop?
Where the Cosmic Buffalo Roams
Who is Bejamin Stove?
Whileaway
The Word on the Sprog
Writing It Slant
Ye Olde Comic Blogge
Yet Another Comics Blog
Your Comic Fix

The Smartest Lantern

Get your copy of JLA/Avengers #3 out.

Don't have one available? Well, here's the cover.

I'll also provide some handy visual aids.

The apparent premise of this cover is everyone who has ever been in any form of the Avengers, and everyone who has ever been in any incarnation of the Justice League is rushing to battle. Apparently, against Krona. It's definitely some reality-altering menace, so they need to bring reality-altering heroes to fight it.

I decided to examine who was the smartest Green Lantern, based on who they have chosen to bring to the fight.

Click Here for the Results

First up is Jade.

According to my key, she's carrying Nikki, Captain America, Madame Masque, Crystal (of the Inhumans), Hercules, Zan and Jayna, Despero's body as inhabited by L-Ron.

(Ralph and Sue don't count, as it's Ralph who's carrying Sue and supporting himself here)

This is a force to be reckoned with, maybe. But I don't see these guys beating Krona. However, I'll admit, she makes a good show.


Moving Clockwise from Jennie, we have Kilowog. Kilowog is bringing Major Disaster, Charlie 27, Aleeta, Demolition, and Cluemaster.

Guess he was pressed for time, because these guys aren't much help either.

Captain Comet, Adam Strange, and Captain Atom don't count, but they certainly do look pretty.


Guy Gardner. Who've we brought today, Guy? "Mockingbird, Steel II, Maxima, General Glory, Red Tornado II, and Big Sir." Oh, Guy, you poor man. You don't stand a chance with this backup.

Hope you packed the Vuldarian powers.


Ladies and gentlemen, Mr John Stewart.

He's usually considered the smartest one, and makes a good case for it here.

He's bringing the Scarlet Witch, Mantis, Zatanna, and Sersi.



That's the lightest load for maximum power there. Scarlet Witch and Zatanna alone have been shown to be able to rewrite reality.

They don't make it to the battle, though. Poor Zatanna spends the whole time fighting Wanda after someone mentions her "kids" and she goes bonkers again. John is knocked unconscious and becomes amnesiac for a few issues, Sersi and Mantis die (and no one misses them), before Zatanna emerge victorious. She has no choice but to wipe Wanda's memory and make her good again. She misses the real fight as she struggles with the moral implications of this. She's right to feel guilty, as Zatanna's actions cause "Avengers Disassembled" and "House of M."


Hal Jordan is bringing nobody.

I can't decide if he's lazy or overconfident.

Or both.


Next up is Kyle Rayner. Normally, Kyle's a heavy hitter all on his own in the cosmic scale. He has been the only one to consistently thwart Parallax on every occasion they run across each other. I guess this has boosted his confidence, because he didn't even try to collect anyone better than Doorman, Agent Liberty, Jocasta, Twin Crimson Foxes, Big Bertha, Rage, and Lobo.

I almost gave him points for Big Bertha. If anyone can finally get rid of that damned Czarnian, I'm confident it's her. But we all know the true power in the Great Lakes Avengers is Squirrel Girl. Without her, they don't stand a chance.


And finally, we have G'nort.

G'nort is bringing Dale Gunn, Maria Brandon, Oberon, Snapper Carr, Maxwell Lord, Catherine Cobert, Jason Blood, Glen Gammeron, Rick Jones, the Mighty Bruce, and Henry Pym.

Now, Pym aside, this is some serious firepower here. G'nort's group includes a 500 year old magician who is bonded to Etrigan the Demon, a short elderly man who regularly hangs out with one of Dark Seid's favorite targets, a Frenchwoman (Not to be confused with a Frenchman), a non-powered guy with no special skills who regularly teams up with the Hulk and Captain America and Captain Marvel (the crappy Marvel one), the most annoying Person in the DC Universe (*snap* *snap*), a telepath who was using Superman as a puppet under such control that Wonder Woman felt it was necessary to snap his neck, and a middle-aged balding mechanic who had Vixen and Zatanna fighting over his affections.

Forget Scarlet Witch and Zatanna. G'nort's brought people who can make reality sit up and beg.

Ladies, and Gentlemen, this proves that G'Nort Esplanade Gneesmacher is the DC Universe's Smartest Green Lantern

I'm scared too.

Sad News Travels Fast

The passing of Seth Fisher, Green Lantern: Willworld artist was recently announced.

Strange that I can ramble for five pages on the death of a character I don't even like, but words fail me when it comes to an actual person. It's a very small, almost unnoticed industry, and this man was very much out of the mainstream.

I think it's a shame we won't get to see anything new of his beautiful, quirky artwork.

Quite a few others feel the same way. Distant strangers mourn an artist this week.
The Funeral ProcessionNewsarama

Barbelith Underground

Comic Book Resources

Comic Book Resources (2)

The Comics Journal

MetroKitty

Comic Asylum

Ye Olde Comics Blogge

Writing Wrong

The Great Curve

Comics Should Be Good

Cory Stauffer

Mister Snitch

Raging Sombreros

Drunkenfist.com

Isotope Comics

Prep Time Posse

Remote Push

Brown Bag Comics

2 Guys Buying Comics

Jim Smash

Ferret Press

Near Mint Heroes

Brill Building

Beaucoup Kevin

Bad Librarianship

View From the Cheap Seats

League of Melbotis

Andrew Dabb

Riot Comics

Scribbles and Lies

Just A Fanboy

General Admission

Jog the Blog

Gutterninja

Dewline

Anadart

One Percent

Raised By Squirrels

Reid Harris Cooper

Colleen Doran

Sharp Like The Edge Of A Samurai Sword

Omedi

Culpable Y Perdedor

Zona Negativa

Pulp Arcade

Fabricari

Gamera Spinning

Lines and Colors

Rogue Dave

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

El Blog De Jotace

The Gentle Scent of Pee in Your Longbox

Drawn!

Newsarama (Funeral Details)

Green Arrow

Shortly after Identity Crisis, I was getting sick of Green Arrow. I mean, he showed up everywhere, was very useless, kept spouting the same caricatured rhetoric, and had a tendancy to screw things up for other heroes.

Then Green Lantern #7 came out.


Awww...

I love Hal too much to deny him hugs.

And Ollie knows just how to turn him so that the readers are happy.

Always Remember

(Just the end of my Reflections and Reactions post removed and separated, no new info but Spoiler Warnings Apply)

Only one thing is certain at this point...Major Infinite Crisis/Rann-Thanagar War Spoilers



(Why, no, I couldn't resist)

(And Dorian'll be gone long enough that by the time he adds it to the list it might not need a spoiler warning)

Reactions and Reflections

RANN/THANAGAR WAR: INFINITE CRISIS SPECIAL
Written by Dave Gibbons; Art by Ivan Reis and Marc Campos; Cover by Gibbons and Michael Bair


Infinite Crisis is here and the Cosmic Storm rages out of control, threatening the fate of the entire universe! While the Rannian and Thanagarian flagships each suspect that the other is responsible for the disturbances, Donna Troy must lead her team of space champions into the cosmos in an attempt to prevent total destruction. But as the war rages on, a startling discovery will be uncovered, one hero will be forever changed, and another will make the ultimate sacrifice.


Guess what I read today.

Spoilers Ahead Pertaining to the Strong Text

Consider Yourself Warned

Read the Spoilers

I should be happy. She's dead, gone. I never have to suffer through another Jade story (unless, of course, they resurrect her -- a possibility which I shall ignore for the purposes of this essay). With her dead, a female Lantern from the Corps will take prominence. My gender will no longer be represented by a character who isconsistentlyy weaker than the others.

I have reason enough to dislike her, I'm not the only one, and I expected this. I've been asking for this for a while now, and not asking gently even. I've been screaming for her head. On a pike. Placed outside the newly-built home of a resurrected Katma Tui.

She'd been in Infinity Inc, that's where she was born. Infinity Inc was the spinoff of the JSA team and the All-Star Squadron book. The members were the various children of the JSA, who were not accepted by their parents so they formed their own team. It was 80s Bronze Age, soapy comics. Nowhere near as flashy or exciting as the late 90s JLA stuff where Kyle Rayner cut his teeth, but it was loved by its loyal readers. It was personal level book, personal threats, personal stories. Soapy. They mainly dealt with their own private problems and JSA leftovers. It wasn't even the hybrid of soap and widescreen action the current JSA is, it was mainly soap. In hindsight, no one could really be impressed with a tenure on Infinity Inc in a world with the JLA. Except for a few teamups with the rest of the Universe (All-Star Squadron, Crisis on Infinite Earths), Jennie never got to save the world.


After this team disbanded, the members floated all over the DCU. She was in a reality TV show, did some nude pictures, and worked a little with the Justice League.

She was an unused Lantern character who was plopped into the title as a supporting cast member. When Donna Troy was pulled, she was there. It was too simple to turn her into a love interest. They didn't think this through. Green Lantern, since the Silver Age, has been a space-faring concept. Kyle would eventually go to space. His creator has said, several times, that his intention was to restart the GLC with Kyle.

I think it's because of this spacefarer concept that the rotating love interest was started with Hal (They introduced Iona Vane within the first ten issues), even though Hal was primarily Earthbound. Any Lantern love interest stood the chance of not being permanent. Hell, this was Kyle's third shot, odds were, it was going to be changed later on. That's the nature of this franchise.

Jennie's family ties were a blessing and a curse in this aspect. The daughter of the Golden-Age Green Lantern, the man who was Kyle's chief mentor figure. Storywise, it was as natural as an apprentice falling for his master's daughter. It held the same promise. Kyle would inherit the Golden Age Legacy of Green Lantern like the "family business." Very natural, very wonderful on the surface. Not very permanent, as Kyle had already inherited the Silver Age Legacy. Withh the revolving Love interest and the responsibility to the extra-terrestrial. Sooner or later, he was going to go, and she was going to go elsewhere. Here's where those family ties became a curse, because Kyle's tie to the Golden Age legacy becamedependentt on his good standing with Jade.


Plots and enemies for Jennie are easily forgotten. She never had an enemy all her own. Her most notable adventures were tied to her family -- the ones with her boyfriend, the ones with her brother, and of course Sentinel: Heart of Darkness, titled for her father -- where she made her best show, but lost her powers. Closest thing to a nemesis -- Her crazed ex-boyfriend Brainwave Jr (now sane), who fought her father more often. Her biggest events involved losing and regaining her powers.

Jade was a mediocre character.

And I hated her for it. It wasn't for the cheating storyline, though that was poorly thought out and had too many irritating consequences that could only be undone with her death. No, it was for her sheer unimpressiveness. She was a Lantern longer than Guy or Kyle, but never seemed nearly as skilled. She was not anywhere close to as creative as Kyle. Hee wasn't even particularly brave or smart. She was, with one exception (the storyline in which she lost her powers) consistently portrayed as less powerful than her boyfriend, her father, or any normal Corpsman.

The day Fatality showed up, and Kyle had to save Jennie's older, more experienced butt from a villain he'd beaten as a rookie, my sister and I dropped the book. We swore off Green Lantern, for a while. I discovered back issues, where Arisia was particularly brave, Katma as faithful, idealistic and creative as Kyle, Boodika and Laira were skilled fighters equal to anyone in the rest of the books. These past females were fascinating, but they were dead, discarded, and forgotten.



Jade, however, had survived a Lantern-wide purge and a cursed boyfriend through the grace of her family ties.

I always had problems with that aspect of her concept. Jade was guaranteed a certain amount of panel-time due to comic-book nepotism. She inherited, if not in-character, butmetatextuallyy, a certain amount of status from her father. She was a princess, present in stories because of her royal connections. The plotlines were dependent on her father, her brother, or her boyfriend. She was defined by them, she was "the Good Daughter" "The Strong Sister" and "The Supportive Lover/Helper" -- she was teacher, mother, daughter, sister, nuturer to the men of the Green Lantern books. She was always defined as reliable and skilled in dialogue. Nightwing called her a "veteran," Kyle called her "the better hero" and Kilowog described her as a "True Lantern" -- she's never had any actions to cement these definitions, but this is how the males around her define her. Mostly, she offered sympathy, a helping hand (but not too much of one) and a supportive shoulder. She tied generations and legacies together as a romantic tie.

No wonder her character became so reviled for the "Cheating plotline." She violated the sacred trust, the sacred contract. She was Guinevere, a princess with an inheritance, tearing the kingdom asunder for passion (and, before you side with her -- passion for a man who did not respect her enough to be faithful to her!). One of her 3 chief bonds, the relationships that defined her character was severed by her thoughtless actions. Her concept as a supportive woman was destroyed.



This wasn't just a mistake. This was a characterization catastrophe. At the core of her very concept wasfamilyl and unity -- bringing generations together, and here she was shutting the door on the latest generation of Lanterndom. This woman who was built on family was becoming a divisive presence in the family.

And so, for the anti-feminist basis on which her concept was built (a womandependentt on males for definition, a female fundamentally less powerful than similar males) in addition to a complete lack of anything of interest in her personality, I always figured it was best that she die. There was an entire Corps of Alien Lanterns out there. We had nuturers in the form of Kilowog and Guy, rough and tough and manly but still supportive caretakers at heart. Our alien females had been young students (Arisia), nuturers (Brik,sherifff Mardin), warriors (Boodika, Laira) and sharp thinkers (Katma and now Soranik). Better to get rid of Jade and her nepotism now, and give some others some screentime, maybe a resurrection or two.

I feel bad now. I was hoping for a noble end to a much maligned character. I figured she'd get a nice swansong, with a good show of power, the chance to save the life of Alan (beloved father), Kyle (spurned lover), or, to really make her selfless, Donna (traditional rival). I mean, Blue Beetle got a decent farewell.

No such luck.

Jennie's quiet and demur, and clearly missed Kyle and regrets the split. She's the sweet young lady from Infinity Inc again. Kyle and her are a comfortable pair of old lovers who've been apart long enough to forget why they were apart in the first place.

She acts to boost his confidence. She tells him he's the creative one (sadly true), how much this feels like old times, and of course, warns him that the enemy will betargetingg him, as he is the bigger threat (which, yes, he is. Jade's always portrayed as a lesser Lantern than a member of the Corps). This used to be her vital role in Kyle's life, but he no longer needs someone to do that.

She is there to help and protect, but she does not die doing so. She's behind him when lightning strikes her.

It was disappointed.

A mediocre end for a mediocre Lantern.

Perhaps the most suitable one, however.

Remember Power of Ion? Jennie had lost her personal power, but was given power in the form of a ring by Kyle. During this storyline, he "awakens" her personal power again, because she cannot do it alone (I was uneasy with this one when I first read it). I don't think Kyle was lying. I think he's very good at deluding himself. It's revealed at Jennie's death that in truth the power she had was his gift all along. He protests, but she insists on returning it.



Perhaps this is a good feminist parable. A truth to illustrate what happens when you draw not on your own personal strength, but on power allotted by the men in your life.

Jennie inherited supernatural powers from her father. When she joined Infinity Inc, she was a sweet-faced innocent, who could easily have become the submissive member of the team. But she had a brother who was needy, and through her relationship with him had power. Shereceivedd both this form of emotional power, and superpowers from Kyle. Jade was a study in borrowed strength. Her power was never hers, it was her fathers, then Kyle's. This derivative power only served to keep her subordinate to her father's, her brother's, and her boyfriend's needs. When it was no longer useful to her, she returned it. She destroyed herself repowering the one who had empowered her.



I'm a big believer in the subconscious in stories. There are little details that make a character fit one way and not another. Her death would have been better, I believe, had this loophole, this connection not been there. Had it been Donna, it would have been a different scene. Had it been Diana or Hippolyta, the same. The Wonders draw power from female deities. Had it been Starfire, Power Girl or Supergirl, it would have been different. These women draw power from the same source their male relatives do. Black Canary? She followed in her mother's footsteps.

I wonder what would have happened if Jennie had inherited her mother's (the Flash enemy, Thorn) powers. She'd already been forced to reject her mother's legacy for her father's. Would the character have been different, personality-wise? Would she have spent her entire life borrowing power from men if she'd originally drawn power from a woman? Would she have lost that power and had it reactivated?

Would she have still died giving it back?

Creature From the Velvet Cage

I finally read The Creature From the Velvet Cage as Kalinara insisted. It was a fun little story, but most of the pages were lacking something very important.
I only saw 3 shots of Hal Jordan's backside.

That's not anywhere near enough.

How could they call this a Silver Age story?


(There was, however, a wonderful panel with Elongated Man that I'll have to address at a later date.)

Disturbing Double Standard

I think I need to join a feminist site where I can just rant off all I want without fear of bringing the site too down.

Then again, some of my highest traffic draws are from When Fangirls Attack so maybe I'd just better leave well enough alone.

Either way, I don't have my Spider-Man/Black Cat fallout aggression worked through quite yet, so here's another rant.

Those of you in the mood for something lighter perhaps involving Green Lantern, try a classic.

Those of you with complaints, please read this primer on feminism first.

Thank you.

Read the RantingWas reading an old review of Guardian Devil, and the reviewer pointed out something. I had to open my copy and reread it, but she was dead on. Foggy Nelson was raped during that storyline. The villain drugged him and then coerced him into bed while his judgment was impaired, forced him to break trust with his girlfriend Liz.

This becomes part of the (aptly named by Kitty) "You Touched My Stuff" plotline where we examine Matt's reactions to this. He is concerned that his friend is in jail, and that his friend's lovelife has been screwed up. He's not the least bit concerned that his friend was taken advantage of under the influence (when he was not capable of giving consent), and they even make a prison rape joke during the prison interview.

Kalinara has pointed out, more than once, that Cyclops was mind-controlled into bed by Psylocke in X-Men once. Cyclops has no psionic abilities. He has no defense against that. He was in an exclusive relationship (marriage by then?) at that point. Even if he were attracted to the woman (someone pointed out to me once that he did want her, which doesn't mean shit because attraction does not equal consent and Cyclops should never be penalized for being a man who thinks beyond his libido), there was no way he would have given consent. When the others find out, was Psylocke ostracized and branded a supervillain like she should have been? No. She was told to stay away from Jean's property like a good girl, and was allowed to continue to play.

From these examples, we can draw some conclusions about comic book men. Apparently, they are wondrous creatures. They can physically and mentally violated, forced to betray the trust of the women they loved and then be blamed for it but they immediately bounce back the next day. So, clearly, there is no reason to offer them shock or sympathy in this case. Or even to confront the perpetrators of these crimes.

Now, I don't know how real men feel about this. They are a strange people with unfathomable minds. I leave it to men to draw their own conclusions on how this affects their gender.

But here's the thing, it's damaging all the same from a female point of view. Whenever guys joke that they "wouldn't mind" this experience, they are trivializing rape. By showing this experience, and not depicting the proper horror in the mood, they are trivializing the experience. By not showing proper attention from the supporting cast, they are indicating that it's not something to worry about. And by not showing the accountability of the offender, they are essentially saying this is not a crime at all.

This is subtly enforcing the monumentally insane idea that "being forced to have sex against your will is not that big a deal."

This is all bad enough. Then they go and use the double-standard, wherein the female characters experience the same trauma and their entire life is spent in recovery, while a male character doesn't even blink and it becomes a footnote to his history that is rarely, if ever, brought up.

Does anyone else find this insulting as fuck?

Damn it. It looks like even superhero women are so overemotional and delicate that the most horrific trauma imaginable for a woman doesn't make a dent in a man's thick psyche. Either male characters as so much stronger that they recover almost instantly from a trauma that is life-defining for a female character, or this crime doesn't matter when the perpetrator's a female and the victim's male.

Oh, and those of you who are forming "Well, it's like that in comics, where you get desensitized..." please keep in mind that you are making the primary argument against using rape as a plotline, and further infantilizing the overwhelming number of female characters who have it as a life-defining moment.

This just plain sucks for both genders.

Writers who have no fucking clue how to handle this issue should not handle it in any form.

How the Hell is the Unicorn a Symbol of Purity?

It has a huge phallic horn on its head. And the legend goes that it will approach a virgin and lay its head (with the huge phallic horn) in her lap.

What the fuck is pure and innocent about that?

And it's considered something desirable to pet these perverts in fantasy stories?

To Hell with that. I see a Unicorn, I'm running, and I'd advise you to do the same.

Stunt

This is funny.

This is Funnier.

(Now I have to read them both regularly.)

Feminine Facts

Gordon of BlogThisPal! fame has a fun list of Random Wildcat Facts up (ala the Chuck Norris List) and suggested others contribute.

I like Wildcat, but I'm not an expert. I do, however, know a few things about his old girlfriend, Queen Hippolyta (better known to Wildcat as Polly), the mother of Wonder Woman.

Random Facts About the JSA Wonder Woman

-- Hippolyta had no need of divine intervention to have children. She brought Wonder Woman into the world solely aided by her own mighty feminity, through intense concentration on her womb and willing it to fertilization. Because even Amazons are overwhelmed by the sheer power of Hippolyta's womanhood, her chief spin doctor Phillipus made up a story about sculpting a baby out of clay, and threw in some deities for good measure.

-- Why are so many comic-book women badly written? The writers don't feel they can stand up to the glory that is Hippolyta.

-- Hippolyta's only son? Chuck Norris.

-- The only man virile enough to satisfy the Queen of the Amazons more than once is Wildcat. When the two finally met in 1941, their very first kiss tore at the very fabric of reality. The resulting breakdown in the space-time continuum was the true reason for Crisis on Infinite Earths. Krona was just a glory-seeker.

-- Hippolyta is not actually Ares' daughter. Hippolyta has no father. She emerged fully grown and wielding a sword from a Volcano during the Earth's formative years.

-- While she is generally believed to be a youthful 3 millenia old, Hippolyta was in fact the first sentient person born on this planet. Her exact age is unknown, but the hot flashes she experienced when she underwent menopause resulted in the end of the last Ice Age.

-- Hippolyta, after her death, does not reside in Hades. The forty-room manor she was offered in the Elysian Fields was too small, and the 72 slave boys for her pleasure were simply not enough selection. Instead she pinched the Ferryman on the behind, and then lept across the river Styx. She took up residence on Olympus, and nobody said a word for fear of her sword.

-- The Mayans were the first human civilization to discover time-travel. When they peered into the future, they saw Hippolyta, in her Wonder Woman costume, wielding a sword and determined that she was the Herald to the End of the Universe, and figured there would only be a few more years afterwards, tops. They set their calenders accordingly.

-- In the 40s, Queen Hippolyta used the last name "Esther" in her secret identity. This was suggestion of the Flash. It's a good thing he can run fast.

-- Hippolyta once convinced the entire Green Lantern Corps to take a group picture, from the back. She has it on her wall.

You Can Always Count on the Flash

I had weekend work today. I got the day shift portion (which is insanely early, who is up at that hour?) Now, as a certifiable night-shift-owl, it's unnatural for me to sleep during the hours of darkness. So, in preparation for this shift, I obtained maybe an hour of rest. We had a light day planned, maybe an hour or two of inspections for Monday's flight. But apparently my regular shift can't get along without me so they left us with a bunch of jets that couldn't fly. I was out there thirteen hours today. Everytime we fixed one problem, another developed. I have to fix three new problems tomorrow morning.

Frustrating, I tell you.

So, in desperate need of relaxation, I turned to my Golden Age Flash Archives, which I haven't touched for a year. I haven't had a chance to read through Volume 2, so I figured I'd do a little glancing around for fun innuendo.

I opened to a random page.

This is what I saw:



I am a childish woman. I couldn't help but chuckle at the first line.

Then I moved on, to the very next panel:



Life is Good.

Because of the Meme...

I've seen a 200% increase in traffic since being linked to Dorian's Always Remember meme.

It warms my heart to see so many of you viewing the best Green Lantern has to offer.

Linkblogging (Been saving some of these)

Hmm.. some of these are old, but too good to pass up.

Click Here for More Links

Firstly, if anyone is still here from Jog's place looking for Seven Soldiers insights, I don't have any for Mister Miracle yet. I suggest you check my archives, and then head over to Melchior's. If you are so inclined, the Bulleteer #3 preview is up at PopCultureShock.

The Comic-Blog Legion -- I found out about this last week, but umm.. Well, better late than never. Check it out.

Now, a concept we really need to see more of in comics. I think it could help. Maybe we could petition the Dark Lord.

Some lovely discussion of Frank Miller.

Alan Scott's son comes out. Fans speculate on Alan's reaction.

They've got to be kidding.

I believe this one may be serious, though.

Here's an interesting Legion of Superheroes/Infinite Crisis Theory (Mild Spoilers)

Well, he's wierd but he has a point. Especially in lieu of this and this.

If you are particularly strong of heart -- Click at your own risk.

And last, but never least, the following people have blogged about Green Lantern (I'm not the only one!):

Mogo -- Kalinara

John Stewart -- Jer-El78, GlyphRich, and myself

Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner -- Kalinara, James Schmee, Mallet, Greywing, Chris of the Matter-Eater Blog, and Devon.

Hal Jordan -- Jerry tells us how to draw Hal. Scipio, Dave of the Longbox, and Marionette discuss Hal getting hit on the head. Sleestak tells us about Hal being stupid. Dave of YACB shows us Hal being badass (mind-controlled).
This all leads to the challenge of Zombie Mallet: Be nice to Hal this week. Mallet's got a head start on us, but I'll do you one better. Do an "I Love Hal" post before the end of February, link me to it in the comments, and I'll link all of them by the time Green Lantern #9 comes out, and then crosspost those links on a few Green Lantern message boards. So, give it a try. It'll get you some traffic...

On a lighter note.

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Okay, I think it's all out of my system now.

Thank you

Feel Like Vomiting

(Sincerest apologies to Kalinara for stealing this rant idea, but I need to vent)

Well, just learned from Chris Sims about Spider-Man/Black Cat #6.

Turns out that its revealed that Black Cat was raped in college.

Lovely, another one for the list.

Yes, there's more to this.

I first read this sort of thing in a comic in my teenage years, when I bought some back issues that included Wonder Woman #1. I was irritated that it was there and chose to ignore it.

I then encountered it in Watchmen. Found it disturbing, but it served the story.

Same with The Killing Joke.

I didn't really mind it in Green Lantern #109, because I didn't care much for Jade to begin with. I just considered it a lackluster issue and moved on.

I thought Mia in Green Arrow having been a hooker was an interesting past for a potential sidekick, and was more bothered by her blonde hair and blue eyes than her traumatic past.

I didn't think the Engineer in the Authority needed this at all.

I honestly didn't care much about it in Identity Crisis. I mean, it was pretty vile, but it was about the only horror that could explain away the irrational actions of the Justice League.

But when you start putting them all together, you get a freaking bad trend. Nearly every female character has sexual trauma in her past.

Someone needs to sit these writers down and tell them to stop. You're not adding emotional resonance to the story anymore, because this ploy is tired and overused. You are not showing the slightest sensitivity to women's issues, so don't consider yourself enlightened for using such an adult subject. And you are not making the female character any deeper and more compelling with this, at all. If anything, they become more superficial because the issue isn't properly explored.

And it really bugs me that these writers find the only way they can emphasize a female character's strength is by giving her a past sexual trauma to overcome. As though this is the only trial fit for a woman.

I blame the guy who rebooted Wonder Woman (not Perez, the guy before him) for taking the Amazon's positive past and attitude and painting them as manhating isolationists with having been raped as justification for their prejudice. And I heard a rumor once that he'd planned on having Diana fend off a rape attempt within the first few issues but was stopped by editorial. I'm sorry, that's just plain stupid. Every crime prevention briefing I've ever attended has emphasized certain behaviors to avoid being a victim. Your standard rapist would not target a six foot Amazon who carries herself like a Queen. Too intimidating, too risky.

But I digress. However it started, it needs to stop. It's not only cheapening the characters, but the depicted trauma which happens to far too many women everyday.

Knock it off.

Or Else.

I can't stop...

Blame Dorien, and to a lesser extent Kalinara.

(I have at least 10 more saved on my computer.)

Okay, One More

"Next time, you give me the paperwork before I get all the way to Oa!"

(Yes, that was Mr. John Stewart in the hooded sweatshirt)

(Check out LiveJournal's Green Lantern art meme)

Alan's Shame

Let's face it, poor Hal Jordan has been put through the ringer by the comic-book blogging community.

He's an irresistable target. An arrogant man who is constantly being hit over the head. How can we not make fun of him?

But, in the interest of fairness, I must bring to light the tendancy of the rest of the Green Lantern Corps to also take beatings over the head.

Click Here for More Head Injuries
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Green Lantern Follies

First, we see that Hal has passed on his tendancies to his respective successors.





So, surely, this clumsiness is only inherent in the human males in the Corps.

Right?


Katma and Arisia might disagree.



The Green Lantern Corps is for Equal Opportunity injury after all, I suppose.

But this isn't even the most shocking display of incompetence in this franchise.

Feast your eyes upon the Great Alan Scott, Green Lantern of the Justice Society, 1940-1951.



Here we see where poor Kyle went wrong:



We also get a double-feature in a later issue...



But hey, at least Green Lanterns have never been taken in by their own powers..



Oops, spoke too soon.

Yes, that was Alan Scott being beaten with his own power beam.

I think we've seen enough.

John "Hal's Got the Paperwork" Stewart

DC has had trouble with John Stewart. They have five Green Lanterns (once again, Jade doesn't count) and each one was slated, after Rebirth, to appear regularly in a book. Hal got Green Lantern, Alan got JSA, Guy and Kyle each had roles in two miniseries, and John would get JLA.

The one year later solicits have revealed a few changes. JLA is being canned. John has only had a marginal role anyway, so its not much of a loss. Kyle's getting an ongoing. Guy's supposed to be headlining Green Lantern Corps when it actually starts (although I find it suspicious that it hasn't been solicited yet). John is only marginally mentioned.

He does, however, appear in the Green Lantern ongoing.

Just not nearly enough.

Yes, there's more to this.

Now, I like John Stewart. I think DC's writers do, also. But it's hard to think of things to do with him that aren't better suited to one of the other three. Hal, Guy, Alan, and Kyle all have distinctive aspects to their personality that just invite certain types of stories. Even the JLU version, when you get down to it, is basically a hard-ass version of Hal Jordan, and attracts the type of stories that in the regular DCU would go to Hal.

A lot of fans might tell you that the problem is that John has no distinctive aspects to his personality.

They would be wrong, of course.

John Stewart was heavily fleshed out in Green Lantern: Mosaic. Outside of Mosaic, I think John's written like a Virgo. Meticulous and detail-oriented, but still able to pull back, see the big picture and adjust accordingly. It's a good surface personality, and fits well into the Mosaic storyline, especially the issue where Hal confronted him. Hal thought his friend was losing his mind, but John was just undergoing such changes that his true self was bubbling to the surface. On the surface, however, John is a Virgo and Virgo isn't really an exciting and sexy sign. Their personality type isn't the kind you see in high adventure, not like a reckless Leo, a tempermental Aries, or a busyminded Gemini. The writers get distracted by these other personalities, and so they follow them and leave John alone.

That's one of the great things about Green Lantern: Rebirth to me. We see the John Stewart of Mosaic again. The mature John who kept his social activism/conscience. And it's not social conscience like Green Arrow. Oliver Queen mainly comes off as a blowhard. John Stewart doesn't simply sound off about the symptoms and the wrongness of the issue. He's an Earth-type, but his mind is a razor-sharp sword, that pierces to the heart of the matter. Even under the influence of Parallax, he's sharp enough to give Batman a verbal beating like he's never had before. And he follows up next issue by physically beating the snot out of the entire JLA (with a little help from Guy). This is the John we lost after Emerald Twilight. Our multifaceted rock. Our grounded philosopher. Our thinking bruiser. Our self-examining, endlessly questioning warrior/poet/social critic. John Stewart, the fully rounded, fully realized, fully effective character was back. If only for one mini-series.

As rich and deep and soulful as John is, he's still left to the wayside.



Why?

Is it the Earthly, solid surface to his personality? Does this superficial personality seem to boring in an action story? Does he lend himself better to introspection?
Or is it, as some contend, his race?

Or is it a combination of the the two?

John's motives, values, and personality encourage social activism. Now, this is responsible social activism, mind you, not simply the venting partisan paranoia of some loudmouths we know, but a fully rounded fully realized responsible consideration of the issues. John is no slave to a political ideology, or any foolish consistancy. Nor is he fickle or reactionary. He is a truly radical thinker. He avoids camp mentality. Instead, he's a reasoner who adjusts, learns, and grows. John's social activism works best in a situation that shows both sides of an uncertain conflict. There, he can mediate a blanced solution that involves openness, education and understanding.
To say it short and simple, a good John Stewart story needs to be long and complex.

This leads us to two problems. First, and this may be a shock, John is a black man. That is not a coloring error. This gives us a combination-prejudice problem with his writing. From his story options glares one stunningly obvious theme. This theme was used well at his conception, but after 34 years writers may still find this theme too irresistable not to use, which then leads to a paranoid perception of John-- "He's black, so if we do a racial tolerance story it'll be seen as stereotyping" combines with "He's black, so let's make it a racial tolerance story" to create John's most recent role in Green Lantern, which involves bitching at Hal for joining the USAF, calling Hal at the scene of a car accident, bitching at Hal for the paperwork, and giving Hal a message Superman felt to socially awkward to deliver personally.

I know we all have our personal crusades, and many of us pursue a social cause exclusively. But John is a comic book character. He needs to be flexible and appeal to the widest audience possible from the start, so that he will sell, and develop a large enough fanbase to stick around. And John has loads of potential. We need him to stick around for another Gerard Jones. We don't need him slaughtered in the company crossover.

Secondly, John suffers from the stigma of social commentary. As superhero fans, we don't like it and we don't want to hear about it. I don't believe this is because fanboys are fangirls are necessarily bigoted by nature. Variety is the spice of life, and I've never heard objections to a character being a different gender, color or sexual orientation than is usually seen unless the character has been previously established as otherwise (though, for the record, I could've sworn Kyle was Asian from JLA those first few years, and I know for a fact I'm not the only one who made that mistake, so him not being 100% Irish isn't really a big deal) such as the Starboy reboot (which yielded a really awesome character design). It's more because any social awareness stories are reminders of the crappiness of existence, which we are attempt to escape from by diving into our stories about heroes and villains with absurb powers and motivations. A little reality, yes, is welcome. We want to laugh, so jokes about trying to make the bills and such are wecome. We want our bad guys as bad as bad can be, so a certain degree of grim and grittiness is generally acceptable. We want to empathize with our characters (just not through their helplessness!), so stories of complex motivations, failed romance, and a certain degree of tragedy is also encouraged.

There is, however, a limit.

In general, we don't like to be reminded of the idiocy of the human race as a whole.

We're after superhero stories, not after-school specials. If we want a life lesson, we will look for it. But as it is, if I see a female character I want her beating up bad guys, not wailing endlessly about the double standard. If I see a gay character, and he wants to get married, well, he'd better just move to Massachusetts and get on with it rather than spend a twelve-issue storyline fighting the governor. Again, more butt kicking, less preaching. And if I see a different colored character, I do not want them stopped at the door of the country club while the bad guy gets away. I want them to bust through, beat up the bad guy, and then get thanked.

Part of the problem of "A Very Special Issue" stories is the major let-down at the end. The injustice is too big to just punch away. The hero is usually deeply unsatisfied with the outcome, because it must be realistic (realistic = no hope). In order to lend weight to the issue, a feeling fo helplessness and impotence must be portrayed.

Case in point: Green Lantern: Brother's Keeper.

Kyle Rayner's Assistant Terry Berg (who, up until this point was a cute fun character with a crush on Kyle) is seen on a date with his boyfriend (who is a dead ringer for Kyle, talk about having a type, Terry!). They kiss in front of your standard, faceless, mob of morons. Morons beat the crap out of Terry. Kyle spends half the issue in the hospital waiting room, and the other half beating up the morons (which was not nearly as satisfying as it should have been) and asteroids. Oh, and bitching to Wally and Hal. GLAAD apparently gave Judd Winick some sort of award over this comic.
GLAAD knows shit about comic books.

Many fans still despise this storyline. Mentioning the name Terry Berg will attract much venom on most message boards, as the character is seen as a means to "hijack Green Lantern" for a social agenda. I very much doubt this is a reaction to the social issue itself. It's more the mood of the story. It was depressing and hopeless. The theme was helplessness. Kyle was coming off of an unbelievable power-up. Winick manufactured this situation to drive home the point of pointlessness. Kyle beats the crap out of the perpetrators, but cannot change their views, cannot change what they have done, and ultimately, cannot change the world. He's so insanely powerfuly compared to the featured morons he even feels like a bully for beating them up. The editorial point of the story was to make Kyle hate humanity and want to leave Earth.

It worked. Kyle was so disgusted he up and left that night, and so did many of his fans.

I'm sorry, this sucks.

I don't want to read a superhero story and get this much powerlessness out of it. I have little enough power in reality, I want hope and triumph in my fantasies. Villains so evil as to be inhuman must run away in the end with their tails between their legs. Heroes, even when setback, must retain some measure of control over their lives. Helplessness, injustice, that's fine for the middle of the story. But you don't end it with no progress. The situation needs resolution or resolve. At the end of the stroy, the problem must be solved or the hero must be resolved to solve it at a later date. In addition to doubling the hero's determination for change, some small progress must at least be made. Just one person needs to change their mind for the better.

This is the twofold problem of social commentary stories. The situation cannot be properly resolved, because it is a direct mirror to our society's unsolved problems. The underlying problem is too big to be resolved by a single person, and if it is resolved it is disrespecting the problem as a whole and destroying the faint reflection of reality in the story. Solving the situation that stirs up the underlying problem in a manageable storyline in a way that is satisfactory to the readers and respectful of the difficulty is a delicate line, and one most writers do not have the balance to walk. And they know this. So many of them don't even try.

Witness Wonder Woman. She can never eradicate sexism. There's only one of her. Yet, in the early stories, she seemed unstoppable. No one could resist her reasoning. She used a message of tolerance and understanding (and... hehe.. loving submission) to turn nearly every enemy she made into a friend, even that Nazi baroness! She's suffered badly since Crisis, and I think that's because they kept the "Mission to spread Tolerance" but will never let her win anymore. When writers use her to bring awareness to women's issues (The Once and Future Story), there's a hideous fatalism to the story. You are reading a tragedy. This is Wonder Woman's life mission, and it is doomed to tragedy. Wonder Woman should not be a tragedy, it should be fun and hopeful. She should be something women want to be!

Likewise, John Stewart should be someone fun to be.

He has one of the best concepts in all of comicdom. But due to the combination of being the only fully non-caucasion male Green Lantern flying about and having a history of being used for social commentary (good and bad stuff), he's become difficult to handle. Stewart's most unique strength is his social conscience. He looks at people and power and questions their motives, he looks at his friends and questions their motives, he looks at himself and questions his own motives. He's a character that lends himself to social activism.

But it is hard, in these pessimistic times, to tell a tale of social awareness and instill hope.

Green Lantern: Mosaic managed this. I think it's because the mirror wasn't so direct. I mean, it was firking obvious that they were talking about tolerance, but the messages wasn't hammered into the reader's head. It wasn't simplified, if anything, it was complicated more. Simply because it was damned wierd! Religious tolerence was explored with the Orthodox poulty, homicidal triplets and the displaced Crow Ridge Indian Reservation. Understanding through singing plants, Sex and violence and resurrection, something red, yellow trucks, yuppie copycats and the whole damned mess was about cultural tolerance!

And more than that, Green Lantern: Mosaic was fun. John got to make jokes.

Now that I think of it, Star Trek has the same advantage. By exploring social issues through an alien culture, they maintained just enough closeness to recognize the issue, but had enough of a distance that fans could explore the situation objectively, and engender enough hope that the audience doesn't feel like total defecation when the credits role.

This is the main advantage of all science fiction.

So why the hell are our Superheroes spending so much time in earthly problems they can't solve?

I mean, I think its vital to the story and the message of any social awareness plot that the heroes be allowed to change things for the better. Social commentary set on Earth restricts that change so as not to compromise the "mirror" so much that we can't suspend our disbelief anymore.