October Solicits

The full solicits aren't up until Monday, but they have some early DC ones up.

This probably spoils the end of the current GL crossover, but check out the cover to Countdown for a look at Kyle's new look. The design is nice, and I like it. Very close to traditional, but still Kyle and the hair has a bit of length that does away with the crewcut that scared me from that sketch last month. (Yes, that crewcut annoyed me more than anything in Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps.) Can't wait for an artist I really like to draw it.

Also, Kalinara has notes on the JLA cover and which Lantern is on it. I'll be doing my I Told You So dance in the meantime.

Oh, and if anyone would like to see an entertaining and rage-inducing conversation on race as Hal-only fans react to the JLA cover and cry because now their favorite's only dominating one book, check out the discussion thread on Newsarama. There's vague whining, then it gets cooking around Page 4 or 5 when someone mentions reverse discrimination.

The Newsarama forum debates the issue of racism with all of the class and dignity we've come to expect from a superhero fan-site message board.

Hal-fans take this opportunity to express the opinion John is a character with no personality other than being black while John-fans point out he has a rich and detailed history that stupid people like to ignore because they don't know enough about Green Lantern, but Hal-fans still insist that he's being thrown in for race. Someone who can't count thinks that half of the team is black now, someone says a third and members of the silent majority sensibly realize that they don't know how many people are on the finalized roster yet. There's the "editorially mandated diversity so it will suck" vs. "McDuffie loves John so its no surprise" argument, the theoretically intelligent point that there's more to diversity than adding a black character is used to support an extremely stupid argument, the required Didio-trashing and a "Did you know Kyle's Hispanic?" "WTF? Seriously?" tangent thrown in for variety.

Somewhere along the way someone points out that DC spoiled the ending to Sinestro Corps, but the "JLA is Kyle's book, dammit!" fans don't show up until Page 8.

Also on page 8, a reader loses his faith in the writer's word and someone finally brings up that there might be two Lanterns on the team or that Hal might have very good in-story reasons for dropping out.

On Page 9 there is a valiant effort at stopping the fight through logic.

My absolute favorite is the this post:

There are people of color in this country. They deserve super-heroes. You are a big doodee head.

See, being a Green Lantern fan is not all the Hal vs. Kyle war. Sometimes we fight about John too.

And as long as I'm going off on the Dark is Rising

Bellatrys sums up the changes quite nicely:

Will in the books is unselfish, concerned for his family's well-being ahead of his own, a serious and recollected kid who looks out for others. In the movie, at least from the trailer footage, he's a thoughtless brat who only sees in his newfound powers a chance to show off cool superpowers and give nothing in return, whining worse than Young!Luke to Ben Kenobi about having to go save the world. And Luke had more responsibilities, and fewer allies and resources, at the time!

Oh, and Soyo found the trailer:


What book did they get this from?

More Dark is Rising Angst

Its worse than even I had heard. This post at the livejournal community "A Blog of Authors" breaks it down in a handy chart. (Hattip Bellatrys) It does not look good.

I could handle the nationality and the plot changes, even removing my beloved Arthurian elements, but they are changing Will.

Will discovers his powers on his thirteenth birthday, because John Hodge says Will's extra years make him more "plausibly capable."

One of the things about Will was he always seemed like an old 11. He was like a thousand-year-old man wrapped up in a little boy's body. Why would they need to add two years to him if seeming older than his age is still a characterization point?

Will is assertive, challenging his older brother head-on, and doing many other things — as John Hodge says often — "head-on." I guess it's a pro to his being American, as Americans have a reputation for being more proactive than passive.

Yay for nationalistic stereotyping! Will he do rope tricks too? All the British kids'll be tea-drinking and uptight, right?

He is told of his powers, refuses to believe anyone when he hears of them, then goes home and apparently gives his brothers what-for.

Why? Would he think his brothers put the guy up to it?

At thirteen, Will gets disgusted at not being able to tell anyone. He blows up a car and acts out in some other ways. According to John Hodge, Miss Greythorne tells Merriman, "He's just expressing himself."

Remember the scene where he got especially curious and went out to the woods and set a stick on fire with his powers? Then realized what a humongously stupid thing he'd done?

Yeah, I bet that's gone. That way they get to blow up cars and shit whenever Will gets angry, because he doesn't have that natural "Old One" attitude, he's a spoiled brat with anger management issues who wants attention and glory! Yeah, way to keep with the unique spirit of the hero of these books there.

So, the thoughtful, introverted youngest member of the Old Ones? Our gentle little hero who was loaded with ancient power despite all appearances to the contrary? The guy who was responsible and thoughtful and didn't waste his power in showy displays? Gone! Replaced by a Harry Potter clone!

Oh, but they changed all the surface stuff that would make people mistake him for Harry, but they went ahead and took Will's unique personality and exchanged it for the more popular boy's so they could clone Harry Potter but not be accused of cloning Harry Fucking Potter.

Fuckers.

You know, I hate to be one of those fans who gets mad whenever they change any little thing about a book I loved, but seriously, this sounds like mass-produced shit that's trying to capitalized on the Potter popularity. They're killing this book, dammit. Killing it (And yes, you can quote that for your fan entitlement rants, thank you very much.)

Seriously, though, the Jack Black as Green Lantern rumor (it surfaces every few months) didn't induce nearly as much disgust as that chart does.

Its just as well, they probably wouldn't have gotten a good actor for Bran in the sequels, and Bran is the character I'm really a fan of in this one.

When this movie comes out I'm spending my ticket money on a bottle of whiskey and sitting home to reread the novels.

I advise you to do the same.

Friday Night Fights

At the behest of Bahlactus:

GWOG

Girl-wonder.org started a blog. Not a column-style one like their normal stuff, but one with links and short posts.

Let's play the reading comprehension game.

Could you guys do me a favor and comment paraphrasing this paragraph (from this post)?

Criticism is my small way of preventing future bad stories, because I know some of you out there are aspiring writers. Slowly but surely, we can fix some of this crap, one writer at a time. At the very least, we can let off some steam in the meantime.

I'm beginning to think its meaning may not have been as clear as I intended.

More Being Mean to Kyle-Fans

I'm so absentminded sometimes. I jotted down a note about a comment that said "I'm just not sure that Kyle won't be used to fuel angst for John, Hal, and Guy when they're forced to kill him during this" as one of the funniest and silliest things ever said by a Green Lantern fan, but I didn't write down where I saw it. It may have been on Geoff Johns' board.

Either way, it was really funny because there was a long ten year period where Hal and John were pretty much there to fuel angst for Kyle, and it was really silly in light of the premise of Rebirth (Parallax bonded to Jordan's soul so it kept control beyond that grave and tried to twist the Spectre's power), which makes it unimaginable that Hal Jordan would let anyone die with that thing attached to his soul, especially Kyle.

I was planning on digging it up to settle an argument, but now I can't find it. And I checked my comment section pretty thoroughly.

Rats.

Oh well, Green Lantern #21 is out today and I'm sure there will be a lot of complaining about it and I can find something else.

As much as I'm ranting, though, I am really starting to enjoy the fuss over this one and if anyone sees any really funny complaints let me know.

Wherein I Horrify Toy Collectors

Well, I was out earlier today searching the stores for that elusive blue motorcycle Dorian described in my Arcee post. I checked every Target in town (I even asked to make sure I got them all) but no on had a motorcycle Transformer. I finally found it overpriced on Amazon.

However, it still has a problem. This toy is a blue motorcycle. Arcee is a pink convertible and dammit, I want a pink car! To that end, I've decided to solve this problem the same way I solved my "No Female Green Lantern Toys" problem.

Well, not exactly. Tearing the wings off of a cheap Tinker Bell doll and repainting her as a Green Lantern (results pictured here) isn't quite going to work this time.

(As an aside I'm rather proud of the results on that one. I had trouble getting her to stand, but that's a makeshift never-dry clay base so I can still change her pose whenever I feel like it. I just wish I could get a decent picture that shows the little GL symbol clearly.)

Now, I know that people buy kits and repaint them and rebuild them and put a lot of effort into it. But I'm too cheap and lazy to get that in-depth. Painting is fun and messy, so I can justify doing that much. (Its also why I like Habitat for Humanity when it comes to volunteer work. They always need painters.) I'm going to need to pick out the right kind of modeling paint for the plastic Hasbro is using, something that won't eat plastic that'll probably need to be redone every few hundred shifts, but I am going to buy one of the car Transformer toys and paint it pink!

Right now some poor collector is shuddering in horror at the thought, but seriously, these toys are under 10 bucks right now and common as dirt.

Unfortunately, no one is a convertible (I mean, seriously, how obvious is that? A convertible Transformer!), but I have this one narrowed down to a few toys. I just need some help to decide which one.

1) Jazz. This one's my first thought because this toy is remarkably easy to find around here. I found a lot of them while searching for the motorcycle. The gray color is easy to paint over. He's also the cheapest, coming in at eight bucks at Target. The problem is his robot form is just a little too far from Arcee for me.

2) Bumblebee. The robot form is ideal and the car form is the next best thing to an actual convertible for Arcee's car form. However, this one's a bit more expensive, a bit harder to find, and the yellow plastic bits aren't going to paint as nicely as Jazz's gray. This one's also getting some poor reviews on Amazon.

3) Barricade. It has the advantage of being the one I would buy two of, because I like my Barricade figure too. Unfortunately, this iss a bad guy and his robot form carries that effect.

4) Starscream. Okay, this one is the most expensive so I probably wouldn't want to alter it. But isn't the idea of a pink jet just pure awesome? And I could always just buy two of this one.

[Poll Closed. Bumblebee beat out Starscream by one vote.]

Anyway, leave your questions, comments, advice, and "WHAT?! NO!!!! WOMAN WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!!" reactions below!

Attention Humanity!

I'm sure that Judd Winick is a really nice guy when you talk to him. I imagine Brad Meltzer is excellent company. I bet that Will Pfiefer did not intend to offend anyone with anything in Amazons Attack.

That does not change the fact that the comics suck and are often loaded with nasty symbolism and messages.

I love my mother, but she raised me on a diet of super-misogynistic fairy tales that were loaded with meaning and cultural tropes that remain with me and a few million other kids to this day.

I know there are critics out there who see writers with serious issues, but really we're looking at a society with serious issues here. They're in the art, they're buried deep in the culture, they've been influencing us since we were born. They surface at the absolute worst times and they need to be pointed out and faced or else we'll never fucking get past them, and we'll be forever doomed to this living hell of cliched, offensive entertainment that saturates our world.

From a less lofty perspective, sometimes nice guys just tell bad stories.

Criticism is my small way of preventing future bad stories, because I know some of you out there are aspiring writers. Slowly but surely, we can fix some of this crap, one writer at a time. At the very least, we can let off some steam in the meantime.

But before we can fix anything, we have to learn to accept Ragnell's First Law of Criticism:

Criticizing the story is not the same as criticizing the storyteller.

Quit popping up in my comments acting like I boiled someone's puppy because I pointed out something read really fucking wrong in their story.

It doesn't do anything to change my opinion. All it does is make me pissed off at you.

Since people have actually asked on this one...

I still maintain that Hippolyta has been portrayed as trigger-happy and impulsive since the Messner-Loebs run, and I still adore her for it. (I think Diana uncharacteristically in denial when she insisted her mother didn't act that way, because it contradicts at least 15 years of continuity.)

I also maintain that the Bana Migdall Amazons are unreasonably bloody, have always been violent and would do some pretty awful things during a war, including child-killing.

From the first issue, Amazons Attack could have developed naturally as a compelling drama where Diana has to play peacemaker in a cultural misunderstanding. The concept is sound. It probably would've worked well if written by Rucka, actually.

But the way its shaping up we'll have a Mind-Control/Manipulation excuse by September, and its not even an interesting way to use the plot. That's why I haven't blogged the last two issues of this one, its really not worth reading the crossover unless I need a quick jolt of energy from the rage at Piccoult's dreadful characterization.

Also, in the second issue, when the female pilot (you know, the woman who is an active participant in the war like men typically are allowed to be) is stabbed to death mercilessly but the matronly female tourist (the woman being a helpless bystander like women typically are allowed to be in these stories) is saved by Green Lantern? That's pretty much where Pfiefer lost me.

Bad symbolism. No biscuit.

In case you forgot, I hate everyone.

I used to watch Transformers every Saturday when I was a kid. I believe it was the "Second Generation" series, but to be honest I don't remember much of the series. I just really remember 4 characters. Optimus Prime (of course), Starscream (because he was a cool jet), Soundwave (we had the toy), and Arcee.

Arcee was the pink Transformer, and the only girl. I remember being vaguely disappointed she wasn't going to be in the movie, but had hopes she'd show in the sequel. Well, my sister and other sources soon informed me she tested badly so they replaced her with Ironhide. In fact, my sister (an irrational Arcee hater) and I were just arguing about it, and I said I'd find the interview or article that was the source of the rumor that she was dropped and find out exactly why, and then we could come back and argue about Arcee. (In the meantime, we went back to arguing about Jazz in the movie, an experience which felt like pounding my head against a brick wall probably would)

Anyway, I found it. I found the fucking interview, and I am more pissed off than ever.

IGN: Were Soundwave and Arcee the two characters you most would have liked to see in the film? Or who would you have liked to include that you couldn't?

Orci: Those two were kind of the main ones, but a few different Transformers came in at various points to serve the story, but the story dictated certain other things. But those are the two main Transformers. I would have liked to see Arcee, but the idea of a female Transformer needs its own explanation, and there just wasn't going to be enough time. It would have been like, "Oh, that's convenient. They're trying to appease women with a pink Transformer." So rather than having that happen, let it just be a straight shot and speak for itself right now.

What. The. Fuck.

Why is being a girl so fucking special? Why is it that every other fucking robot has a male fucking voice and no one questions why they have gender coding but the fucking second you bring in a female voice and god forbid you put it in a feminine color you have to suddenly explain why everyone has gender?

Oh, I know. We automatically assume everything is male. Male is the default. Male is neutral and being a girl is some sort of freakishness that can only be explained as thrown in there to try and appease the women!

It's not like the entire fucking movie was built to pander to the audience that watched the cartoon and would know who Arcee was anyway.

I hate Hollywood. I hate Fandom. And I hate our fucking stupid society that tells me that my gender is weird and needs to be explained away, because don't you know everything is already male and femininity only exists when there's babies to be made dammit.

They're fucking robots. What the fuck is the harm?! If they were so fucking worried it would have taken two fucking lines for the stupid kid to be surprised to hear a girl and Arcee to explain that they're robots, they don't have gender, she just used a female voice.

And I remember they never gave her a toy until I was a grownup for some reason. Can't imagine why. The whole fucking franchise was a fucking toy commercial, but we had to wait how long for then to paint a robot pink?

(And I still don't have my pink convertible Transformer. Its a little motorcycle now.)

Bastards.

ETA: Hey, didn't Ratchet have a British accent? What the fuck?! They really think they would have needed to explain a girl voice?! And the body? They made her a fucking motorcycle. Why would they need to explain the feminine shape?! Seriously. What. The. Fuck.

Shouldn't have said that

I regret making this comment.

I should have said:

Hey Val, did they show you one of my letters?!

I didn't think of it until after I posted, though, and now it would look bad if I deleted it.

Still, I think my qualifications as a rabid Lantern Fan-warrior might be going back on my profile, because we're getting our reputation back and I may as well make use of it.

Dark is Rising Movie News (Its not looking good.)

"...dedicated to a Godly transformation and revolution TO and THROUGH the Film and Television industry. TO it, by serving, living humbly with integrity in what is often a world driven by selfish ambition, power and money – transforming lives from within, and THROUGH it, by creating relevant and evocative content which promotes Godly principles of Truth married with Love."

(Yeah, that's going to work well with all the pagan imagery.)

"...screenwriter John Hodge told me they dropped all the Arthurian stuff from the film."

(Yeah, there goes the rest of the book.)

Friday Night Fights Round 3!

For the viewing pleasure of Bahlactus, a little old lady beats the crap out of Captain Comet:

Recommended Reading Before Work

More Stereotypes than Meets the Eye -- Okay, I'm a sucker for movies that involve explosions and aliens so I missed the vast majority of what she points out (Except for Jazz. I couldn't believe that one when I saw it). Nora (guest-blogging at ABW) has a much better rundown of the issues with Transformers than I would be able to offer.

Well, okay, I have a rant on the exclusion of Arcee in me, but that has to wait until I can find the interview and read the exact wording on why she was dropped.

Thank you, Judd Winick -- Kalinara lays out the most recent reasons why Judd Winick shouldn't be writing superheroes.

Seriously, I think Brad Meltzer could be saved with some pointers on the importance of action, but Winick seems to think his writing is relevant, trendy and revolutionary when its the same old sexist cliches dug up and used with an unhealthy mix of bad characterization.

WHAT?

Des this person actually think they know more about Green Lantern than me?

The concept of Star Sapphire is based on seduction.

Okay, a retcon is not the basis for a concept, its a revision of a concept and its as temporary as a sandcastle given the amount of nostalgia found in most comic book writers today. The basis for the concept is where it was created. That story is out in a Showcase collection. This one is accessible.

And honestly, I don't understand why I should find it embarrassing that I can write a full coherent essay on the nature of Star Sapphire in Green Lantern in five minutes, especially in response to someone who takes the time to read and troll essays about superhero comics.

And again with the "its only comic books" argument as if that makes it okay to put out offensive shit. Two things wrong there: a) being junk lit just means that when you pick the offensive bits out its a sign that the theme is that much more interesting (and in some cases harmful) because its so ingrained in society it surfaces even in the light stuff, and b) we're shelling out three bucks apiece for these things, dammit. A little consideration is not too much to ask even if they are just cheap thrills.

Well, to be fair, he was pretty whiny in Ion too.

Deep in the heart of Oklahoma, Ragnell the Foul stirs in her subterranean lair. She lumbers towards the ancient computer on her desk, turns it on, and goes to make her iced tea the old-fashioned way. When she returns, the computer has booted up, and the wonders of cyberspace await her. She logs on to check the news, and discovers to her delight an interview with Ron Marz about what he plans to do with one of her favorite characters. She reads eagerly, nodding in anticipation of September's comic books when she sees something distasteful. She frowns, rubs the dusty screen with a scaled forearm and squints at the monitor.

Yes, he did indeed just say that.

She sighs and reaches a clawed hand for her set of Wonder Woman stationary. She selects the blue paper with the red envelope, then picks up a green quill. The creature takes a moment to phrase her objection in the clearest yet least offensive manner possible, and then she writes.

Dear Mr. Marz,

I am writing because I found your quote about the nature of the Donna-Jason-Kyle love triangle in the upcoming The Search for Ray Palmer miniseries problematic. You stated:

One of the things we’re going to be doing in this book—is this sort of triangle—between Jason, Kyle, and Donna. Jason Todd and Kyle Rayner are not going get along. I think in a lot of ways Kyle is the good ex-boyfriend and Jason is the somewhat alluring bad boy—and the bad boy and the good ex-boyfriend never ever get along.

I believe your phrasing of this story idea presents a flawed and malecentric view of romantic relationships.

From the viewpoint of a man who has just seen what appeared to him to be a perfect relationship dissolve, the next man may seem to be of such a different personality that the two men are destined to clash even without a woman in the picture. To that end, such a different personality may seem like a "bad boy" to the discarded gentleman. And even though the supposed "bad boy" is not a bad guy at all, the differences combine with the circumstances to create the illusion that a low-down scoundrel (a devil perhaps) has stolen the lady in question (or that the lady in question is a duplicitous, fickle woman who just doesn't appreciate such a nice guy). Indeed, when this sort of thing happens continuously it may seem as though women in general are attracted not only to this particular sort of scoundrel, but to bad men in general.

And surely a good many of the men who have found themselves on the unfortunate end of this sort of event use the written word as a way of working out their tensions. Since romance is one of the oldest sorts of stories, and we have a few centures of ignoring female voices in favor of male voices at our literary backsides, this has probably happened quite a bit with few counterexamples. This would naturally lead to the side of the story belonging to the "Good Guy" (the "Nice Guy") being overrepresented in romantic stories to the point it becomes a cliche, the sort of thing everyone knows and everybody jokes about. And because everybody knows it, and jokes about it, they are quicker to believe it in their own lives when they see a seemingly perfect romance dissolve.

But honestly, if you look at the situation from the point of view of the woman, and not the "Good Guy," you will see that there is usually a very good reason to look for a completely different personality in the next man. More often than not, the apparently "Good ex-boyfriend" was needy, whiny, irresponsible, childish, or held a host of other character flaws that are not readily apparent in the new "bad boy." The "bad boy" has his flaws, but they are rarely the same flaws the woman was rejecting and in my experience the "Bad boy" usually has strengths in the very areas where the "nice guy" was found lacking.

So you can see how your setup for the Jason-Donna-Kyle love triangle perpetuates an already cliched and unfair stereotype that just adds to the pile of cultural crap that allows so-called "nice guys" to avoid taking responsibility for their own flaws, instead blaming women who won't put up with those flaws for being duplicitous and fickle, or blaming other men for "stealing" their girlfriends.

I could understand it perfectly if Donna was ignoring Kyle for Jason because he had been whiny, childish, temperamental, needy, irresponsible, or annoying, but he hasn't exhibited those character traits since your run on Green Lantern ended several years--

At this point, she pauses and twitches her prehensile tail. After a few moments of careful thought, she puts down her quill and places the unfinished letter aside. She replaces it with fresh paper, and starts to write once more.

Dear Mr. Marz,

I will be picking up The Search for Ray Palmer. The love triangle you described in your interview sounds very true to life, and I look forward to reading about it.

Sincerely,
Ragnell the Foul
Four Miles Beneath Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA

Recommended Reading

Kalinara's on a roll.

(I dedicate that recommendation to the manager who turned around and yelled at me to smile yesterday. I've yet to see anyone do that to a male technician, but damned if I don't get told that at work three times a week.)

Green Lantern Fans, Help Me Test a Theory.

Okay, I'm watching the reactions to The Sinestro Corps and I'm wondering which version of Kyle everyone preferred, and how that coincides with whether or not they were happy with the special.

To that end, I have created a quick and simple poll. I decided on limiting the writers to just Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns, Judd Winick, and Ron Marz because all four of them wrote a fairly distinctive version of Kyle and put him in distinctive types of stories. (Plus, if I offered every writer who handled him for just one issue, it would get tedious. I picked the three writers who had him longest and the writer of the miniseries in question.)

Anyway, choose which writer of the four listed wrote the best Kyle Rayner, and whether or not you liked Kyle's part in Sinestro Corps.

(Poll Results)

Please vote, and feel free to leave conclusions in the comments. More on this one later.

Recommended Reading

I fully intended to rant here about the attitude towards superheroes and crying I found in this spoilery Sinestro Corps commentary. (I bookmarked it, but didn't say anything on the board because its page 22 of a 25 page post.)

But Kalinara beat me to it.

She put it better anyway.

Thoughts?

Adam Hughes did the cover for the San Diego Comicon Keepsake book. We had a newsgroup discussion and I'd like to get everyone's first thoughts on this one.

Quick Note

I've seen three posts today that suggest DC characters have been replaced by Skrulls.

Wrong universe. DC characters get replaced by Manhunter robots, which are currently active and being led by an old Superman baddie. Adjust your theories accordingly.

Friday Night Fights: Hal vs. Hal

Because Bahlactus demanded it:

An Open Letter to Geoff Johns From Your Average Green Lantern Fan

Dear Sir,

I've been a Green Lantern fan, a "Fantern" to use the embarassing vernacular, since I was a teenager. For the past few years, with few exceptions, Green Lantern Fandom has been calm and peaceful by comparison to the 90s. Bringing back Hal while keeping Kyle active was a beautiful idea that made majority of fans I interacted with happy. Yes, there were problems with lateness and people worrying about their favorites and John not being used but on the whole the majority of the Fandom put aside their differences, their personal insults, their undying character loyalty and geeked out in reasonable harmony for several years.

Today I have been checking the message boards, the blogs, and the livejournal communities. There is obsequious praise for yesterday's Sinestro Corps special, as well as conspiracy theories, personal attacks, ancient grudges, whining, complaining, and creator-bashing creeping into the conversation as anxiety sets in. Increasingly, criticism of the book is met with dismissal and personal insults by the fans who enjoyed it. While it is still quite tame in comparison to how things erupted in the 90s, I perceive that a second Hal-Kyle Fan War is inevitable and the fandom risks returning to the dark ages of insanity and obsessiveness.

So far, the only drawback I can see to that is that last week I wanted to post a rant for Friday Night Fights which pointed out that all of the Green Lanterns were alive, well, and active, show a picture of Green Lantern punching out the Flash and end with "Eat it, Flash-fans!" I could not find a picture that captured the sentiment and so I put it off a week. Too late now.

Other than that, though, this is good. It was really getting boring around here. Everyone but the John fans were so fucking happy (and the John fans were generally fucking quiet) that it was like being in the Twilight Zone. Things were getting so sickeningly good-willed that I was afraid to enter a Green Lantern fansite for fear of encountering a truckload of nerds gathered around the Central Power Battery, holding hands and singing Kum Ba Fucking Yah.

Seriously, I can't deal with that sort of thing.

This most recent story is a step towards proper interfan relations, and I wish you luck in bringing us back to the fandom I knew and fell in love with as a punk-ass kid.

Thank you for working so hard to bring the true nature of Green Lantern fans to light, and please disregard the previous hate letter that I sent when I was afraid you'd fuck Kyle up badly. I was actually very impressed with how you handled the matter, and found that my sometimes favorite Lantern was treated well. Also, that letter isn't written in real blood anyway.

Sincerely yours,
A Rabid Kyle Rayner Fangirl

P.S.: Bring Back Katma Tui

P.P.S.: Now, motherfucker.

Sinestro Corps Special

I'm not pissed.


Yes, they did screw with Kyle.


No, it didn't piss me off. Actually, I don't think Kyle fans have nearly as much to be annoyed with as John fans do or Hal fans did.

That doesn't mean it was a miss, I can wait to see how everything plays out.


Although what's really funny? Its actually a combination of some of the stuff we guessed. (I'll admit this issue also combined those with one idea I had that I left out of the post because I couldn't make it funny, and one thing that never occurred to me but really should have.) Also, that list helps a lot because it goes to show that there is a lot worse they could have done. I should try that again next time it looks like they're screwing with a character I love. Softens the blow.

Or maybe it was that I spent two and a half extra hours at work, only to have my car's battery die and need to be replaced. I was so unbelievably happy to actually get comics that nothing could have pissed me off.

Anyway, feel free to sound off with your reactions in the comments. I want to discuss this one but I'm not sure where to start other than to say that Kyle had better get a hug when this is all over.

From Green Lantern: Mosaic #6

This one's been on my mind since the September DC Solicits came out. Can't imagine why.

30 Ways to Piss Off Kyle's Fans

This week I got caught up in the Flash and other matters, so I nearly missed my chance to discuss this quote:

Van Sciver remarked, “Kyle Rayner fans may not like us after June.”

Its June 24th, and Sinestro Corps (supposedly) comes out on the 27th, so we only have a few days to guess at what he means. True, this is assuming that we can trust him (Hey, for all we know, Hal fans are the ones getting screwed over again), but some people are taking this as a fairly big clue as to Kyle's fate. The going rumor, of course, is still that Kyle will be taken over by Parallax. I'm sure there are some people reading this very post who are taking this as the only logical option.

But Ethan Van Sciver is not necessarily referring to that. There are numerous ways to screw over that character that do not involve creating Kyllax. Come to think of it, there are numerous perfectly harmless additions one can make to the character that will royally piss off his fanbase anyway. Anyone remember when Winick retconned him to Half-Hispanic? Kylefans had a collective shitfit. Given the nature of fandom, I don't doubt that there was racism involved in some objections. However, the retconning of his father from potentially evil government spook to superspy good guy in hiding was also involved, so I wouldn't say that's a definite reason someone would object.

Personally, I was more annoyed at the diversity cheat there. You think that fucking counts, Winick? He looks white. He has an Irish name. He was raised Irish. He doesn't even KNOW the other side of the family! YOU STILL OWE US A HISPANIC CHARACTER WINICK!!!

*Ahem*

Anyway, there's a lot of stuff that Johns can do to piss off Kyle fans, and we have only until Wednesday to get our theories out there before Green Lantern fans get shifted to a completely different track of mind (mainly, how to get revenge for whatever they've done to our precious Kyle). So, without further ado (and with the assistance of Kalinara), I present...

30 Ways to Piss Off Kyle Fans

1. Kyle is possessed by Parallax.

2. Kyle voluntarily hosts Parallax, figuring he can control him. He fucks this up big time.

3. Kyle loses his powers and is fired by the Guardians for it.

4. He returns as the new Star Sapphire.

5. Sinestro kills Kyle and stuffs him into Hal's refrigerator.

6. Kyle Rayner meets an alternate universe version of himself and gets involved in a relationship with her. They both die horribly at the hands of each other's enemies.

7. Kyle loses his powers and the use of his legs. He's a non-powered supporting cast member for the next ten years, then gets his powers back to become a twice a year guest star.

8. Kyle loses his powers and has to use a yellow ring. Within the next year he loses it, and discovers he has alien heritage and funky powers from that heritage.

9. Kyle gets kidnapped on the first page and taken out of the action until September.

10. Kyle's mom returns as Parallax. She becomes Ion after killing Kyle and sucking out his powers.

11. Kyle is not only 50% Irish, 50% Mexican, but he's part Kenyan, Australian, Cherokee, and Japanese. But he still looks white, so he gets panel time.

12. In their most thoughtful (sadly) attempt yet to appeal to female readers, DC brings us its newest retcon: Kyla Rayner.

13. Rather than retcon, Kyla Rayner is a plotline designed to appeal to transgendered fans.

14. Either way, she's getting married to Connor Hawke in October. There will be three special wedding issue tie-ins, and Superman jumps out of the cake again. Female readers are pissed because he's wearing all of his clothes again.

15. Kyle is de-aged to 15 and officially becomes the Kid Sidekick.

16. Kyle is ambushed by 6 of Hal's enemies. 3 of them back off, saying that Kyle's a child and not a Green Lantern, the other 3 attack with full force and kill him.

17. An announcement is made in the DC Nation column that Brad Meltzer will write a new miniseries: Kyle Rayner Gets His Ass Kicked Across the DCU.

18. Kyle sacrifices his power and his life to reignite the sun, and returns as the Spectre.

19. Kyle is out in the middle of a battle with Hal. He warns Hal to watch out, because the enemies are targetting him as the stranger one, but Hal doesn't heed his warning and a stray strike fries Kyle. In his last moments he bequeaths his powers to Hal.

20. Sinestro fakes Kyle's death to cover his capture. While Kyle is being tortured on Qward, Hal and Donna Troy start to date. This leads to a wedding in December, with three special one-shots, Superman jumping out of the cake, and Donna calls off the wedding because of a telepathic link with Kyle they'd never displayed before. Hal saves Kyle, who then goes into a coma for a few years. Upon waking from the coma, Kyle has brain damage and is unrecognizeable as a character. He dumps Donna.

21. Kyle gives up art to join the military.

22. Kyle discovers he has the ability to warp reality. After learning that the fat guy in Austin that Judd Winick wrote was merely a creation of that power and his unconcious desperate need to have a father figure, Kyle loses his mind and subtly attacks the JLA. He kills Oliver Queen (Nobody minds) and causes the Justice League to disband. Later, he remakes the world according to Hal's wishes, and when he's called on that he whispers "No more superheroes..." -- Okay, forget this one. Its just too mean.

23. It turns out that Kyle was secretly sent by his father (or some thing pretending to be his father) to kill Hal. This complicates things at the Oan water cooler.

24. Kyle is fired from the Green Lantern Corps for insubordination, but he wants to help Hal. So he takes some of Ganthet's plans and puts them into effect, starting an intergalactic war. He's captured by Amon Sur and tortured with a power drill. The entire scene is creepily sexy. He's brought to Oa for help afterwards, but Soranik lets him die for no good reason.

25. Kyle is found burned to death at the artist's retreat. An investigation proceeds, causing Hal to track down an old villain who raped Kyle but had his mind wiped in response. It turns out that this has nothing to do with the actual murder. Torah killed him for jealousy and used that flamethrower she carries around to cover her tracks.

26. Sinestro manages to steal Kyle's powers, but Hal rescues him and leaves him at his apartment while he tries to stop Sinestro's master plan. While he's gone, Carol gets possessed by Star Sapphire again. She goes to Hal's apartment to kill him, but finds Kyle instead and chops him to pieces in the kitchen.

27. Parallax possesses Kyle and forces him to fight the rest of the Corps. By the time he shakes him several lanterns are hurt, which causes great angst on the part of Kyle. He goes into seclusion into September, when he emerges to fight an alternate universe Hal who was never freed from Parallax. He's beaten to death during the battle, and doesn't manage to stop his enemy.

28. In the first few pages, Ganthet calls Kyle to Oa, takes him aside and says the words fandom will remember for decades: "Kyle, I am your father."

29. In the last few pages, Sinestro corners Kyle, and in the middle of the fight says the words fandom will remember for decades: "Kyle, I am your father."

30. In the last few pages, Sinestro corners Kyle, and in the middle of the fight says the words fandom will remember for decades: "Kyle, I am your mother. Its complicated."

Aww Hell.

Again. (Its funny, the last time was over linking too.)

Still, the comment thread there is surprisingly fun so far. They're talking about the wedding and the covers and ignoring the fight most of us got sucked into.

Edit: Okay, fun except for this one:

*blinks*
So this isn't about Dinah? Or the neverending debate about just how much of a w00bie Deathstroke is? Or who tops in the true pure love of SupaBat (Lois Lane WHO?)?

It's just...linkwank. *sigh*

TRY HARDER, COMICSDOM.

"Try harder?" You're kidding, right. We fight about that sort of shit all the time, its just that that community only ever pays attention to livejournal so they miss the really fun Comics fighting on the boards and the blogs. The really interesting stuff isn't even the linking (which Fandom_Wank only notices because it crosses over to livejournal, I bet) but when the pros fight fans. Yeesh, all that community has to do is watch Graeme or Shane's posts on Blog@Newsarama for a little while and they'd find better drama than just the link stuff. Or visit the DCMB.

They don't even have the order of favorite arguments right, do they? No Silver Age vs 90s characters at all. No Joe Quesada. No Marvel vs DC either.

Still missing the point.

Loren over at Suspension of Disbelief did an overlay test and discovered that the Power Girl cover was altered before release to give her a smaller breast size.

However, her lifeless posture, incorrect anatomy (the breasts are still anchored to her ribcage -- boobs don't work that way!) and utterly vacant expression remain.

Good god, DC, its not about the fucking cup size. Its about when your artist doesn't bother to draw the rest of her because he thought big breasts got the character across.

They don't.

Next time you kick Turner in the butt, make him fix the rest of the cover too. Or better yet, don't hire his lazy ass!

This one amuses me.

In the comments of my latest linking rant, Dan had this to say:

The internet is a public place. It certainly is. Most of us are aware of that. It is a fantastically open marketplace where ideas can battle against other ideas.

And you know what? Posting for the sole purpose of mocking another person probably is low and messed up. It might be funny. You might enjoy it. But that doesn't make it anything other than low. You are deriving humor by mocking someone else.

At this point I have to point out the rank hypocrisy of your post, however. Your point that the internet is a public place and people can say WHATEVER they want is well taken. Then, promptly, however you tell other people what they cannot say (in your words, "don't make generalizations about "Bloggers.")

Doubtless, then, you are a hypocrite.

Oh and points for reading comprehension. Go back and reread that thread you graciously aren't linking to. It is the professed "blogger" who made that generalization, not the professed "livejournaler." But perhaps you were too busy making a generalization to realize that.

You are "downright sick" of it? Downright sick? Well then I guess we should all stop right? Because you are sick. But if anyone else says they don't like being linked too (and that is what they said--fundamentally different that saying that bloggers should quit doing it), they should suck it up because you do like it? Please.

I don't expect this post to last long, because I know the internet isn't that open a space. And I know that people like to bitch at others without being bitched at themselves. But, when you delete this entry, please do me a favor and go back and reread that thread.

Sir, I'll not only not delete your comment, I'll repost it here to be fully appreciated by the audience.

I propose a "Guess what sort of foreign object is stuck up Dan's butt" contest.

Friday Night Fights Returns!

(Like I'd miss this)

(More JLA#10 Spoilers. You are not safe from them anywhere.)

Daniel has one more reason that I hate Brad Meltzer's writing and want him off the Justice League of America now.

That writer spent most of the first issue on a game of Capture the Fucking Flag, and he couldn't make time to acknowledged those three characters in the last issue.

A single fucking panel where the one character who knows (for sure) who they all are introduces them to others. "Hi, this is..." That's all. Or if he's too wobbly-brained, have a panel where the other characters ask about them. "Holy cow, is that who I think it is? Look how they've grown!" Something like that.

You can't tell me that with all the padding in this book there wasn't something that could be cut in order to do that.

Mark Waid would've had them introduced the panel after the hug.

Geoff Johns would've had them introduced the panel after the hug.

This guy doesn't bother. They are there in the art only so that when Waid starts writing he'll have them to play with.

Public Service Announcement

The Internet is largely public. If you post in a public place, and are linked and mocked in another place, then it perfectly within the rights of the linker to mock you.

Its not their right to harass you, threaten you, or send a slew of trolls to your own website, but if the matter consists solely of linking and mocking, its hardly "really low" or "messed up."

If you get linked to on When Fangirls Attack, and then linked on another blog and mocked, the linking and mocking is not "the lowest of the low." Yes, sending trolls is low. Yes, some insults are stupid. However, a lot of different opinions are linked on WFA and it is read by people from various sides of the political spectrum. Linking and mocking will occur.

Bear in mind that the vast majority of the blogosphere is people linking other people, often for mockery. And if you were linked and mocked for linking and mocking someone's interview or point of view, they're pretty much doing the same to you as you did to them and it makes you particularly annoying and silly to the neutral onlooker. That's the Blogosphere. Its the wild.

Defend yourself, by all means. Ignore them, by all means. Express your personal opinions about their parentage, by all means. If you get trolled, lock down you blog if you must. If you get threatened, Complain if their mocking specifically called for people to troll you. Argue back, retreat, whatever you must. But don't make generalizations about "Bloggers" (Especially if you are one, and if you have a livejournal, you are one too. Deal with it) and don't make bitter statements about them linking public posts.

I say this without naming names or linking what brought this about because I've seen more than enough complaints over people being linked and I'm downright sick of people posting in a public place and then complaining they were linked in an unfavorable manner. (Or, in the case of one fucking idiot, a completely neutral manner.) You think I haven't been called crazy, or creepy, or stupid, or had a post fisked?

Guess what, that's their right to do (even if they are wrong) and I do the same damned thing on this blog all the time. If I'm not being threatened or trolled, who the fuck cares if they make fun of me in their own private part of the internet? I have mine to mock them from.

Lock it up if you don't want anyone who disagrees reading.

Finished Flash and JLA

I am purposefully spoiling both for my sister here.

The writing was dreadful, and I can see where a lot of people will be pissed but I'm not. From my POV, they just fixed something that was wrong. I'm extremely satisfied with the ending and will enjoy seeing what Waid and McDuffie do with the results.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to do my "I Told You So" dance.

My sister will know what I mean.

Big surprise there.

You Should Be a Science Fiction Writer

Your ideas are very strange, and people often wonder what planet you're from. And while you may have some problems being "normal," you'll have no problems writing sci-fi. Whether it's epic films, important novels, or vivid comics... Your own little universe could leave an important mark on the world!

What Type of Writer Should You Be?

Thoughts?

Okay, I was going to take a break from Comic Book Issues Blogging and just fanblog Green Lantern until the Sinestro Corps special comes out next week but I wanted to see what other people thought of this guy's comment policy:

Allow me to show you something, Angryrantgirl.

You have just claimed that I am not allowed to hold an opinion on something. For, and let's not blow smoke up my bum here, the simple reason that it doesn't match yours.

I have deleted your comment, and I have locked this post to keep you from commenting again.

This is actual oppression. I'm not allowing you to voice an opinion. This is a real reason to get angry, not the thong of an imaginary person.

Now, go get some sort of perspective in your life.

My, my...

Looks like Pedro was on the right track. Check out what Kalinara saw when she checked the official website solicit for Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents Parallax:

Written by Ron Marz; Art by Adriana Melo and Marlo Alquiza; Cover by Mike McKone and Andy Lanning

Get ready for a new series of specials focusing on members of the Sinestro Corps and tying into the "Sinestro Corps War" crossover!

DC Universe | 32pg. | Color | $2.99 US

On Sale September 19, 2007

That's it. The solicit they gave everyone else is not up there. The plot thickens and I only have one more week to guess what in the Sinestro Corps special is supposed to piss Kyle fans off so badly. I really should know better than to believe press releases for Green Lantern storylines. (And interviews, for that matter).

Still, half the fun of serialized fiction for me is playing detective and seeing how much of the story I can figure out in advance. (Yes, I am the type of fan they are thinking of when they make sure to drop these lies.) If I enjoy the comics more than what I've come up with myself, I consider it a success.

And now, to daydream.

Remember this guy?

“Now Hal Jordan is the ultimate Green Lantern,” Reynolds admits, “but my favorite is John Stewart. I believe that it really is about time for a black, traditional, All-American hero and Stewart represents that.

“He’s gone through everything from being paralyzed to being healed, to being placed in charge of it all, to patrolling 2814. He’s gone through everything. But when you look at his back story as far as where he comes from., how he grew up, that he’s an architect by trade, I think it’s very interesting to think that someone like him was given the ability to just about anything they want with their mind. I also think it’s interesting that he has such a creative mind to begin with. I love the whole idea that the combination of will and determination being the link to his abilities. So I think he would be a really interesting character to bring to the screen, and I’m working hard to make it happen.”

You read that right. Reynolds is currently hard at work on obtaining the rights to DC’s Green Lantern franchise. Ambitious, even for an actor who’s only truly starting to get his first true taste of national exposure. Then again, we’re also talking about one huge comic book fan here; one who is actually working for a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Stranger things have happened in Hollywood, and some have even worked out.

Kevin Melrose found a followup on that one.

It’s funny you mention that. I just finished the script; it is done. I wrote it myself. A motion picture – full-length, full action – and now we are beginning the pitch process. I’m very optimistic. I’ll leave it at that. I think that the people that I have in my camp at Warner Bros. are interested in cultivating some of my creativity.

This is my first time writing a script by myself, from start to finish, and I got the thumbs up from them. As a matter of fact, after they read it they told me that it was, in fact, “ready.” It’s something that I really want to do. I hate to put numbers on things…but I’d like to see a 2010 [release]. It’s three films, and the first one is titled “Green Lantern: Birth of a Hero.”…This would be no small task. This will be a huge undertaking. It’ll be a huge undertaking just to keep myself attached to [be the] star, if the script gets green-lit. But my whole life has been obstacles that a lot of people told me were insurmountable.

Oh, and if anyone here makes the same continuity error as this Blog@ Commenter, they are getting laughed off the blog.

From the Department of Twisted Fan Ideas

Okay, since Kalinara brought it up and bugged me to post it, here's the scenario I laid out for her when I heard the setup for Countdown Presents The Search For Ray Palmer. When I heard the three characters chosen were Jason Todd, Kyle Rayner, and Donna Troy, this is the scene that popped into my head:

Donna: (Slips into room. Both she and Kyle are dressed in WWII-style German military uniforms to fit in on this strange world.) Jason just tried to kill Hitler

Kyle: Wait, wait.. When we found out this was Naziworld, didn't we BOTH turn to Jason and specifically tell him not to do that? Not to do that exact thing he just did?

Donna: Well, we did tell him to act naturally and we both knew going into this that Jason was... fairly... psychotic.

Kyle: We also told him to keep a low profile. It was YOUR idea to bring him and now he's gone and done something that will get everybody on this entire planet trying to kill us!

Donna: Aren't you a Green Lantern? Shouldn't you should be able to handle a few Nazis?

Kyle: Hey, you're an Amazon, why don't you just beat EVERYONE on Naziworld up! INCLUDING THEIR SUPERMAN! And their Green Lantern. Let's just get the attention of everything in this universe and beat them up because there can't POSSIBLY be anything here that can stop us from finding Palmer even though there's a whole bunch of things in every other universe that can and want to destroy us before we catch up to him!

Donna: Kyle, stop yelling at me. You always do this. You always turn into a complete ass whenever the slightest thing goes wrong.

Kyle: I'm the complete ass? I'M NOT THE ONE WHO TRIED TO KILL HITLER!

(Kali found it funny. I'm sure I'll get interesting search results for this one.)

The point is that Kalinara and I are enjoying this idea way too much, and will probably be reading come September. Ron Marz is writing so the odds are pretty good these three will drive each other crazy in a mindlessly entertaining way.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled obsessing over Green Lantern.

Flash Fact: Series Titles

Hey, everyone complaining about the title of September's All-Flash #1, there's a reason they did that.

Its historical. In the 40s, Jay Garrick shared the spotlight with several other characters in Flash Comics. He'd get a story, and then a few other characters would each issue. When he got popular enough, they gave him his own quarterly special called All-Flash Quarterly because it was all Flash stories.

Still a dumb name, yes, but its historically dumb and that's what DC Comics specializes in.

Too Little, Too Late

Nice try, Marvel, but one lurid Namor cover does not "equal objectification" make.

Previews and Rumors

(Via) Newsarama has a whopping nine early solicits up before the full ones go live, and this one in particular is quite interesting to me:

TALES OF THE SINESTRO CORPS PRESENTS PARALLAX #1
Written by Ron Marz
Art by Adriana Melo & Marlo Alquiza
Cover by Mike McKone & Andy Lanning
Get ready for a new series of specials focusing on members of the Sinestro Corps and tying into the “Sinestro Corps War” crossover! In this initial installment, the writer who introduced Kyle, Ron Marz, dissects what led Kyle to his downfall and explains the Parallax entity.
On sale September 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US"

Let's not panic. Downfall is vague, and the name "Kyle" may be a typo (or even a purposeful typo, I wouldn't put it past them) and they meant to say "Hal." That would explain the silhouette on the cover looking like Hal's old armor.

Still, the idea I've heard floating around is that Kyle will get possessed. I find it extremely unlikely, Parallax is Kyle's major villain so its very possible he can trip Kyle up without possessing him. Honestly, though, if that happens I don't think it'll bother me so long as its not too dragged out and not just a rehash of what went on with Hal.

At least with Kyle they'd have established its a possession at the start, and I'm sure it wouldn't be a long-term issue because they have him invested in the metaplot already. Though, that would be kind of interesting. Fighting Parallax influence, dealing with Donna and Jason, running from the Monitors and trying to fix the universe.

It could really suck, but even in that case I'd buy it for trainwreck value and to follow one of my favorite characters and maybe get to see Kyle decked out in the Parallax armor. I think he would look awesome with in that costume.

On the other solicits, I am looking forward to Kyle's role in the metaplot. Marz is writing it, and I generally find him to be an amiable writer (you'll hear about it here if he irritates me too much). There is always the chance he will fuck up the female characters, but its not a certainty. I'm not a Ray Palmer fan, but I'll be getting The Search for Ray Palmer.

Infinity Inc and Suicide Squad are not grabbing me like I thought they might.

And I view the Wonder Woman Annual with bitterness, because instead of giving us a real annual they are giving us the issue that should have been issue #5.

Edit: This guy has an interesting point:

Did you notice on the cover for the Search for Ray Palmer, he has a power ring and his freaking crab mask? I think they're putting him back in his old costume. I can't stand that old costume!

Not the costume griping, mind you, because Kyle's first costume is actually looking nice next to the last two (Though the haircut on this cover sketch is dreadful. Does Kyle seem like a crewcut type to anyone who's ever read him? Honestly. I'm going to pretend he and Jason swapped clothing for some inexplicable reason there, because Jason is drawn like Kyle should be), but on the old costume in the other preview. Kyle's downfall = the foolish loss of his powers? Parallax might trick him into giving them up or wasting them.

Oh, I hope they do that. I hope they depower Kyle and make him a regular Lantern again. What he's got is unwieldy.

Happy Father's Day!

By the Numbers

Okay, this one is interesting.

Chris Butcher made a post about a Marvel cover.

Since he made that post, there have been:

- 7 posts of outright agreement that the cover is offensive.

- 2 posts noting that the cover was part of an odd trend from Marvel lately.

- 9 posts linking Butcher's complaint as an interesting happening in the blogosphere, but either not giving a discernible opinion either way or commenting only on the fan interaction.

- 6 posts politely stating that they find the cover inoffensive and can't see the offense. Several of these are from bloggers who regularly discuss women in comics.

- 8 posts proclaiming that the idea that the cover may be offensive is absurd. Several of these decry Butcher's post as just another example of fans being hysterical and overreacting to every little thing as an example of sexism.

- 1 post linking Butcher's posts with a phrase in Finnish that translated to "hysterical symptoms." I was unable to tell the rest of the context from the translator I used.

There are 82 comments on Blog@Newsarama and 86 comments on Mr. Butcher's blog. The denouncement starts early on Blog@Newsarama but takes a few comments to get into on Butcher's blog. People comment multiple times, but words like "groupthink," "collective" and "overreacting" are applied liberally in the first thread. Some rather insulting comments are in the second thread.

Of the 8 posts proclaiming Butcher to be overreacting, 2 suggested that female fans were unfairly targeting Marvel Comics. Over the last two days I have collected 15 links pertaining directly to how Marvel Comics deals with female characters and fans, and 21 links pertaining directly to how DC Comics deals with female characters and fans. 12 of the Marvel links were on that particular cover, and only 2 of those links agreed with Mr. Butcher. This is part of increased attention for Marvel for the last two months, because up until the statue matter the ratio was at least 5:1 favoring complaints about DC. There were 4 additional links involving movie adaptations.

All of this is verifiable from the last four posts on When Fangirls Attack, except for the approximate DC:Marvel ratio. That is based on my own personal impressions over the past year and a half and not an actual count.

Definition

I feel like a tourist when I search for WFA links. I mean there's a section of the blogosphere that feels likes its become my home territory (to the point that the message board I used to frequent feel like a foreign country), and I am totally in my element at the shop and most conventions, but there's places where even when I read the exact same comics and have been to the place often enough to know the lingo, I'm still just taking snapshots home to show my little community. Fandom on the whole is naturally splintered and clannish, so I can easily get this total outsider feeling from some corners.

During one of my excursions in the writing community, I ran across this post about gender and the type of fanfiction people write. I don't really care to engage his points generalizing gender and its not "topical" for WFA, but I was really struck by just one section of a sentence:

"fandom"--that is, the term that a predominantly female subculture of fanfic writers have appropriated to describe themselves

I'm coming from the non-writing side, the convention-going, message-board fighting, theory and review blogging analytical side and I'd call that a huge part of Fandom. In fact, I usually refer to it was Greater Comics Fandom because the superhero fans there are so big there in comparison to the superhero fans int he writing community.

What's weird and disappointing about that post is he's a fanfic writer and seems to also figure all of fandom is the fiction writing section (he's just into a different type of fanfiction writing) when we are stuffed to the brim with story theorists, newshounds, gossips convention-goers, podcasters, satirists, webcomickers, autograph hounds, commission hunters, toy collectors, creator worshippers, aspiring creators, music video-makers, and fan artists who have never sat down to write out their own story and using "Fandom" to just describe the fanfiction writers is really dismissive of the rest of us. Like we're not "real fans."

Not that none of the rest of fandom isn't ever dismissive and stupid when it comes to fanfiction writers, but its a little (but disturbingly consistent) piece of snobbery that really grates on my nerves when I surf around the writing portions.

Anyway, back to compiling links. I just had to take a break and vent a bit.

Probable JLA Spoilers.

There's a Dwayne McDuffie interview up at Wizard.

Who are some of the villains involved?

MCDUFFIE: Just like the core of the Justice League is Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, the core of this organization is Lex Luthor, the Joker and Cheetah, and they’ve brought a lot of help.

Any Wonder Woman villain who can be categorized as Not Circe at this point is a welcome sight.

Will there be any new members of the League, and if so, can you give any hints?

MCDUFFIE: At least one new member. Well, anybody who has seen “Justice League Unlimited” knows I like [Green Lantern] John Stewart, so I wouldn’t be averse to opening up that big, ugly can of worms.

About fucking time.

(I knew it had to be Meltzer demanding to play with Hal that kept John out of the JLA.)

Justice League to be written by person who can actually write comic books

More news from the con front:

And the question is answered. Since he started his run on the series with #0, Brad Meltzer made no secret that his run as the writer on Justice League of America would end with #12. And that’s in August.

So – who gets the job next?

Dwayne McDuffie, longtime comics writer, and perhaps, best known in JLA fans view as one of the writers on the animated Justice League Unlimited series. McDuffie will start with the JLA Wedding Special in September, shipping just prior to Justice League of America #13, with art by Joe Benitez (regular series artist Ed Benes will return on the series with #14).

Okay, the Wedding Special looks like its going to be about the worst couple in comics since Nightwing dated Huntress (seriously, there had better be mind-controlling aliens involved if Dinah's actually going to say yes to this guy), and Boobs Benes is still going to be on art, but Dwayne McDuffie is writing and he has plans. (Emphasis mine)

We’re going to shift the team a little, partly because the team that Brad set up is a huge cast, because Brad wanted to work with a lot of characters. So, we’re looking to bring things down to a more manageable size, we’re going to bring other members in also, and bring in that sense of high action and high adventure again – bring the big scale feel back in to the book. Brad did such a fabulous job on the book in telling a very personal story which established and reestablished the bonds between these characters, so we felt it was time for a little bit of a tonal shift and we’ve got someone who understands the workings of the DCU to do it, which will allow for the book to interact with a lot more titles now, because of Countdown and what we have planned for the year.

I take back what I said yesterday. DC must love me.

DC Comics, why must you torment me so?

You're kidding:

As announced by Dan Didio and Bob Wayne in Philly and Heroes Con, respectively, next week's Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13 will be the last issue of the young series, which was just launched last year. Although DC is keeping mum about what happens in that pivotal issue, its story will act as a precursor to the announced return of Mark Waid to The Flash beginning in the fall with penciler Daniel Acuna (Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters).

Okay, on one hand, this is Mark Waid. I started reading The Flash during Waid's run and I am firmly in the camp of people who loved that run and would be interested in seeing if he can recapture that. I never thought I'd drop that comic. (Until, of course, this series happened and I just had to. It was too painful.) To me this writer is not a guaranteed hit (I much preferred his 90s LSH reboot to the current one, for example) but definitely work a look.

On the other hand, its going to be drawn by Daniel Acuna, an artist who draws comics that I find only slightly more visually appealing than the slides accompanying the STD briefing at Keesler AFB.

Some days, I think DC editorial is personally out to get me.

Joe Q: Villain or Menace

David Brothers has a great post up in defense of Joe Quesada called Joe Q: Villain or Menace, and I must admit that I liked the guy as the EiC when he first took over.

I'm sure you all know my current feelings about the editorial Marvel.

I can't agree entirely with David's take on DC's handling of women vs. Marvel's. Comparing Storm cold to Wonder Woman isn't really fair (especially since Storm's handling in her home book, Black Panther, is not really hetr book, or even her home book, and isn't an impressive use of the character. Wonder Woman has been consistently a force to be reckoned with outside of her book, despite editorial flounderings with the title itself. She's at the forefront in heroic society.) The issue is far more complex. Why not take Sue Storm, Spiderwoman, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Scarlet Witch, Power Girl, Black Canary, and Manhunter (which is uncancelled, thank you David) into account? How about Lois Lane's treatment vs. Mary Jane's? And for Spiderman loves Mary Jane vs. Supergirl, we have Birds of Prey vs. Heroes for Hire. And DC just hired McKeever, didn't they?

And before I get called a DC apologist, there's Jean Loring, Spoiler, Black Canary and Green Arrow, any Green Lantern girlfriend, Star Sapphire especially, about a third of the posts on this blog are about DC idiocy.

Point being, both companies have excellent moments and moments of stunning stupidity. But this is before work and I don't really have time to get entirely into it.

I will give him that John Stewart in the background is fucking stupid.

Anyway, its an interesting post. Go read it.

As long as I'm mad about Countdown.

Still no substantial Kyle either. I'm going through withdrawal here. The fucking nerve of you guys, to have a 12-issue maxiseries which ends with a fucking advertisement for a book that's not going to come out for two months and shelve the character until then.

I swear, if Kyle dies because you felt his sales were too low after you went and gave him the stupidest name Winick could come up with as an official name then marketed his book under that stupid name with an unwieldy set of powers and used the brand name on two other books but not his I am camping outside your offices, DC. In my nerdy Green Lantern shirt. And harassing your editors.

Crummy Bastards.

(Granted, it'll be on a day trip home to the Northeast. But I'll have my equally loud and annoying sister with me!)

In which Ragnell realizes she is 3 weeks behind on Countdown, and catches up.

You killed a Kirby creation?

Buttmunches.

They can't mean anyone I know.

Most of the female readers I know would've joined the Hulk vs. Spiderman argument.

(Hattip Angelthorne)

That's not a runner's butt.

Shelly dug this up:


I call foul! Must be a trick of the panel angle. A guy who spends that much time running would be much more toned.

Now that its quiet enough that people can read more closely

(People meaning me, of course)

Takeshi Miyazawa's description of the cultural snafu, which I've just now (that the whole thing's died down a bit) had a chance to read thoroughly, tells me much more than I want to know about Marvel's art policy (Emphasis mine):

I drew the previous cover to Heroes for Hire and was asked to choose at least two girls out of the cast and draw them as sexy as possible so, naturally, I did.

If there is one thing that everyone should take away from this, its that using "sexy" as the defining trait for a character (and seriously, if that's all that is matter that a character be drawn as in the cover, that's a "defining trait") is a stupid idea.

Edited to clarify: This interview is from an artist who drew a previous cover, relayed the instructions he got, and described what probably happened with issue #13. I quoted him because I felt the art instructions he repeated were extremely important and the whole point of Miyazawa's post was that by Japanese standards, that cover was attractive so I didn't want to get into the cultural differences of what's sexy and what's creepy, but instead wanted to point out what Marvel was telling their cover artists to do.

If the phrases "strong, aggressive, brave, or heroic" were used instead of just "sexy" there may have been a very different cover, but we can only conclude from the end result that none of those words were important enough to be used when communicating with the artist from another culture who had never seen the characters before.

So who lost sight of the idea that these were 3 kickass women, Joe?

From Showcase #22

(Just a little reminder of what Hal Jordan was like in his first appearance. In case anyone forgot that he was meant to be an ass.)

(Yes, that woman was the main love interest.)

Oh, and Greg Rucka needs your help.

Local conventions.

Why is every blogging panel at every convention in the morning?

Aside from that, Soonercon has been great. I bought a bunch of old comics, toys, and books. I got filmed for a public access horror show. I got compliments on my Wonder Woman shirt. I didn't place in the costume contest (I was the Power Girl) but I got a ton of compliments on the costume. I got to rant about comics to a bunch of different people. I ran into friends I haven't seen in months. Got one friend's kid to take pictures for me, so I actually have pictures of me this time. Also, his mother showed me how to work a part of my camera that had been a mystery up until now. I ate chinese food in a superhero costume. I saw the last hour and a half of Hogfather (Susan Death: Even more badass in live action).

Unfortunately, because its local and I'm too cheap for a hotel I have to get up twice as early to get to a morning panel I'd sleep through if I was staying in the hotel.

(Oh, and for those keeping the tally of these things, Soonercon did nothing to break my streak. I actually noticed three times as many come-ons at this con as at any other. I think its because people at this con is more likely to be local than at the others.)

Who is... John Stewart?

There are some barely formed thoughts and ideas in the back of my head which may or may not turn into another John Stewart post, but they have me starting to wonder about something.

What does most of the superhero-reading community think John Stewart is supposed to act like? And what writer and/or media portrayal cemented that idea?

Do me a favor and (whether you have a strongly formed idea or just a general impression) comment with your opinion of what John Stewart the Green Lantern character is supposed to think and act like, and where you got that idea.

Oh, and I mean this John Stewart:


(Just in case there may have been some confusion.)

There goes my last Marvel read.

Daredevil #98:

Karen Page. Elektra. All the women Matt Murdock has loved have been violently taken from him, victims of unspeakable tragedies and in Daredevil #98, his wife Milla Donovan may be next! The Gladiator has returned, more enraged and brutal than ever, with one purpose in mind: making Matt Murdock suffer! With the defender of Hell’s Kitchen in police custody and the Gladiator alone with a terrified Milla, things aren’t looking good for the wife of Daredevil…and history isn’t on her side either. The penultimate chapter of “To The Devil, His Due” will have huge ramifications for Daredevil as he races towards the milestone Daredevil #100.

Brubaker shows and gets into an argument with an offended party, with the regular Newsarama peanut gallery in the background. Of course, this is a golden opportunity to tell a pro precisely what I think of this story idea so I couldn't pass it up (even though I hate the boards there). Here's what I posted:

Mr. Brubaker,
I like your stories and I don't think you'd kill Milla in a horribly tasteless fashion, and were it other circumstances I'd say you sound more reasonable and side with you, but here's the thing:

That solicit calls up the disposable girlfriend trope. It points out a trend in Matt's life. It plays it up for tension. And the disposable girlfriend trope, the "You touched my stuff" story (where the hero gets personally offended because his loved one was hurt/murdered) is sickening in all forms of media, and that article plays it up.

Milla is a fairly new character, she's not Foggy. She hasn't been around long enough to be an indispensable part of the franchise. She's not Elektra. She doesn't have the fan appeal to be brought back to life to kick ass on her own. She is to all appearances a disposable girlfriend, so its not a big stretch to figure she's on her way out when we see a solicit like that.

And in the comics world, where nearly all of the female characters are dating other heroes who can protect themselves, but the majority of the male heroes (who are also the vast majority of the heroes) have disposable love interests or set damsels-in-distress, its hard not to get the message that women are disposable to the writers and get really annoyed when you see advertisements that play it up as exciting.

And its really hard to get the motivation to spend money on something that sounds almost sure to offend, so if you'll excuse me I'll wait until after Milla's fate is leaked to decide if I'll buy another issue of Daredevil.

They probably won't notice me, though, as they are arguing over whether or not Scarlet Witch's breakdown was sexist.

(Whatever they decide about that one, it sure as hell wasn't in character.)

That's a cute coincidence.

I believe Duck Tales wasn't until the 90s and this issue of Green Lantern was in the mid-80s (right after Crisis). Unless, of course, the triplets joined the Boy Scouts knockoff early on in Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck and it wasn't a cartoon invention. Maybe some Disney scholar can help me out there.

Either way, its too bad that book didn't give him tips on crossing the street safely.

Sims just managed to break my brain.

Chris Sims found something in the back of his monthly Tarot research and just had to send it to me. It seems Balent weighed in on industry attitudes towards female readers.



For those of you who (understandably) can't read the scan, a male reader asks Balent why the lettercol always focuses on women, and sends his picture in, asking for a column about Guys instead.

The reason we celebrate Girls/Women at Broadsword is mainly because I was told by the so-called "Know-It-Alls" in the industry that female [readers] really don't read comics. While other companies ignore their female readers we glorify them.

Balent compromises by putting the guy at the bottom as the "Do you have dude."

As Sims would say, that was the sound of your mind being blown.

Anyway, before we get lost in a sea of confusion, Balent-bashing, Boobie jokes and feminist analysis of Tarot (which could take weeks), there are some things to keep in mind:

1) Tarot is an adult title and was concieved as such, is written and drawn as such, and is viewed as such by most casual readers.

2) In my personal experience with Tarot readers, I've only met female readers except for Chris), and there was a post by a shopkeeper a while back (that I can't find, but I know its out there) about how he sold a lot of Tarot to female fans. Those are both anecdotal impressions, but the complaint above was that the lettercol is female-dominated, which supports it.

3) I'm finding it really impossible not believe him when he says some know-it-all told him women don't read comics after all the backlash we've seen.

Now on one hand this is Jim "Boobie" Balent and that could be just a smooth way of telling the guy "I'd rather print naked and scantily clad girls, thank you." There's much argument to be had over whether this comic celebrates women or not.

On the other hand, "I have lots of female readers and they send me positive feedback" with the ability to back it up is quite a change from the usual "This is aimed at boys, so you shouldn't be offended" and "You're losing sight of the strength of the character by being offended" we hear when industry professionals talk about women and comic books.

There's also something in here about female spaces, male spaces and neutral spaces, but I'm not familiar enough with the Tarot lettercol to speculate on just what it is.

Now that that's been said: Bring on the confusion, feminist analysis of Tarot, Balent-bashing, and Boobie jokes!

Or feel free to say nice things, too.

Panel Excerpt

From one of Oyceter's Wiscon writeups:

Coniraya mentioned Phantom Menace (I think); he remembered being so excited about it, only to go in and be slapped in the face with Jar-Jar Binks, the Japanese-sounding evil traders, and the Jewish-sounding merchant/slaveowner.

Janine asked if Lucas was deliberately being racist; all of us thought no, probably not. Coniraya said that lots of cartoons that Lucas watched probably had the same accents and that Lucas might have just picked it up, but that that was why it was important to examine these things.

(Emphasis mine)