Superman

He’s got a high-maintenance girlfriend who always needs rescuing.   His friends are all morons, who are too stupid to realize Clark Kent is just Superman with glasses.

And what if he wants to get intimate with someone?   He’ll be faster than a speeding bullet, which is not necessarily a good thing.

(Not to mention, he’s liable to blow the poor woman’s head off.)
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Wonder Woman

She’s got that lesbian-bondage thing going on…

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.  (After all, who are we to judge?)

But it can’t be easy for the poor woman, trying to find an open-minded partner willing to share in her non-conventional lifestyle.
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Green Arrow

An under-appreciated D-Lister.   Nobody knows what he does, except shoot arrows.

And he’s often mixed up with the Green Lantern (who actually does have legitimate kick-ass superpowers.)
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The Thing

I bet you he shits bricks.   I mean literally.

Which would be hell on all the toilets.
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Spider Woman

It’s a male-dominated Superhero’s world.

So no matter how hard she tries, no matter how good she is,  she’ll always be compared to SpiderMAN.
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Batman and Robin

Their Man-Boy relationship is somewhat questionable. (I mean…just how OLD is the Boy-Wonder?)

Sooner or later, someone’s going to say something, and the Caped Crusader might find himself with some serious legal issues.
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Wolverine

His 18-inch razor sharp claws tend to pop out of his knuckles at a moment’s notice.

He’s gotta be really careful with that, when going to the bathroom.
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Zan (half of the Wonder Twins)

Unlike his sister, who can take the shape of any animal, Zan can only take different forms of water.

Great.   What if a Super-Villain decided to be a dick, and just drank him and pissed him out?

(Shudder.)  I cannot think of much worse.
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Aquaman

Given that 99% of all crimes and disasters take place ABOVE water, he’s not exactly the most useful Super-Hero in the world.     Talking to fish can only get you so far…

He probably has to take a part-time job at Marine-World, to help make ends meet.
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Edwards Scissorhands

Okay, he’s not really a Super-hero.  But he does have unique mutant properties, so I’ll add him to the list.

And I really pity him.

At least Wolverine can retract his claws.

But how does this poor guy wipe HIS arse?

The Justice League are on the loose…tracking down the bad guys from the Injustice League

Written by Stan Berkowitz
Directed by Butch Lukic and Dan Riba
Original Airdate: November 9, 2002
DVD: Justice League, Season One

Summary: Returning from a mission, the League finds itself on a dramatically changed Earth, ruled by a tyrannical dictator named Vandal Savage. A chance encounter with an alternate Batman leads the League to go back in time to where things went wrong – World War II, where the Nazis, armed with frightening new technology, are in the process of changing history.

Arc Notes: Start of the Vandal Savage trilogy, some slight development of the Hawkgirl / GL relationship, first appearance of Blackhawk Island.

Debuting Characters: Vandal Savage, Steve Trevor, the Blackhawks, Sgt. Rock, Easy Company, The Unknown Soldier, and someone who is very likely Cassandra Cain makes a blink-and-you’ll-miss-her cameo. Plus, the only Justice League appearances of Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, and Tim Drake.

Featured Characters: Wonder Woman and Green Lantern.

Other Team Members: Everyone but Batman.

Background:

As we’ve talked about throughout these pieces, a lot of DC’s (and a couple of key Marvel) characters originated prior to World War II, and much of their early popularity was attributable to their role as morale boosters for the troops. However, several more characters appeared during the war itself, styled as much more directly fighting the Axis powers. While most of these characters were popular, they were a little too limited in their purview to really hang on after Hitler had stopped complaining about TO signing with the Bills.

This episode features two of the more prominent WWII properties under DC’s umbrella. The one that has more relevance in the modern era is Blackhawk and his squadron of not-egotistically-named-at-all Blackhawks, which, as presented, are a squadron of elite pilots who have suffered at the hands of the Nazis and operate as a mercenary squadron of sorts out of their hidden headquarters on Blackhawk Island. The members shown in this episode represent a small portion of the overall squadron in the comics, and their series actually lasted a really long time post-WWII, even if it never was as popular as in its heyday. Of course, the Blackhawks had some amusing experiments through the years in an attempt to keep them relevant; one of the funniest (immortalised in Waid, Augustyn and Kitson’s brilliant JLA: Year One) was when, to keep up with the times, the Blackhawks turned into superheroes:

No, I’m not sure what they were thinking either.

The Blackhawks’ most recent high-profile appearance was in Cooke’s The New Frontier, which I might wind up taking a look at during the upcoming break between seasons, while the sole surviving member of the squadron, Zinda “Lady Blackhawk” Blake was Barbara Gordon’s pilot in Birds of Prey.

The other major characters to appear in this episode are Sgt. Rock and EZ Company, who represent WWII-era characters created after the war – 1959 in Rock’s case. The best way to think of them are DC’s equivalents to Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos, a team of military heroes that straddles the line between ordinary men and the more gimmick-laden mystery men of the era. Rock eventually grew so popular that he had a series renamed after him, and virtually every DC story set in or around WWII (unlike Nick Fury, part of Rock’s history is that he was killed with the last bullet fired of the war) includes an appearance by Rock and his crew.

This episode was on the books for a long time as the season finale, as the WWII and time travel aspects of it immediately sprung to the creators’ minds as a suitably epic way to wrap up the first season of Justice League. However, Bruce Timm had been dissatisfied with elements of the first season, and this story in particular, as he explains:

… what happened with “Savage Time” was that there were a lot of things going on at that time internally. We were really rushing to finish the season, and there were some problems with the first draft and the second draft structurally. That was a very difficult show to beat out properly, because there was a lot happening. We had three or four major plot threads that had to pay off by themselves and then also had to dovetail into the main plot. That ate up the time we had for rewrites. So the final draft of the script was not quite as polished as I would have liked….

Bruce Timm, Modern Masters, p. 76

The story itself didn’t avoid delays, as it wound up airing much closer to the debut of the second season than the end of the first, although the first couple of parts aired on Cartoon Network Australia soon after Metamorphosis. If memory serves, Cartoon Network justified the delay by claiming they were holding off on airing it until Veteran’s Day.

We’ll talk about Vandal Savage next time he shows up, since he’s much more of a presence in that one.

Thoughts on the Episode:

First of all, the most important thing is to note the major screwup of this episode: American troops didn’t fight in Caen during WWII – Canadian and British forces secured the city in the aftermath of D-Day. The timeline’s slightly different and all that, but, geez.

We’ve already seen the classic sci-fi alternate universe storyline, so realistically it was only a matter of time until a time travel episode made air. While this certainly wouldn’t be the last episode to deal with time, it does greatly benefit from both a longer run-time and a more focused setting than some later efforts. Time travel is always a tricky concept to deal with (even Doctor Who, the granddaddy of time travel SF, runs into issues), but the idea is handled pretty well in this story. It’s actually hurt more by the viewer’s knowledge of Vandal Savage in retrospect than anything else; at first, this seems merely like a scientist going back in time and changing the past to his benefit, which is actually a throwback to a story referenced in All-Star Squadron and roughly a million other works of science fiction.

Of course, the issue in stories like these is that most of the Justice League can handle themselves against modern weaponry, so the vast majority of enemy forces they encounter aren’t really an issue. This is handled in a clever way by the story: two of the most powerful three team members, J’onn and Diana, are written out of the main fighting relatively early on in the storyline, and GL’s ring quickly runs out of charge. As a result, even though Superman is still his normal self, the League’s resources are diminished to the point where it’s not a joke to imagine WWII-era technology giving them trouble, even before it gets augmented.

The usual problem with three-part episodes rears its head here – for the most part, they’re stories which are too long for two parts, but don’t have quite enough for a full three (that gets avoided in the final three-part episode of the series, though). Here, most of the time does get shunted to characterisation, which is a positive; Green Lantern’s military training allows him to fit right in with Easy Company, even if John gives up a little bit when compared to Batman as a leading man in this type of storyline.

The real subplot winner is Wonder Woman, as her meeting with Steve Trevor both is a little bit of a payoff for her season-long journey to understanding the worldview of women outside Paradise Island as well as giving her a chance to show off just how powerful she really is (the bit at the start of part three is Superman-level in scope, something Diana doesn’t really get to show off that often). Steve Trevor’s not quite enough of a charmer to think that Diana would fall for him at first sight like we’re supposed to believe, but I’d rather have that aspect of the character underplayed lest he turn into a WWII equivalent of Flash. Diana’s visit to the veteran’s home at the end is actually really poignant, and while it doesn’t have the sheer tearjerker value that the second season finale would bring, it’s a nice ending.

The showpieces in this story, however, are the action scenes, and for the most part they’re top notch. The Blackhawk attack on Savage’s engine factory is pretty clunky, but the scenes in and around Caen and especially the final air battle are great. As noted in the commentary track, someone in the animation studio really must have had a thing for planes, because all of the aerial combat shots are very well done. Again, you sort of have to put plot considerations aside and go with the fact that this story is a tribute to the war comics that would show superheroes tearing through Nazis without meeting much resistance – these aren’t supposed to be even or even fair fights. What’s really great is that the writers managed to even give Flash – who’d normally be next-to-useless in a fight over open water – something to do. While the battle between Savage and John isn’t decisive in any way, it does give him enough of a comeback that, when Hawkgirl comes back to rescue him, you don’t feel as though he’s running away from a superior opponent.

While this story isn’t amongst the best of the seasons, I do agree with Timm’s assessment that it’s an effective bridge into the much higher-quality second season. And after the stinker that was Metamorphosis, it’s a good pallette cleanser before the really serious stuff starts up again.

If anyone makes any jokes about frozen Hitler as a palette cleanser, you’re banned.

Grade: B. The action’s great, but the secondary leaguers get a little lost.

Random Thoughts:

• The introduction with the alternate-universe Batman is cut a little short, but it does have one very nice easter egg buried in it:
  Yup, it’s the Dixon-era Bat-family, with Dick, Barbara, Tim and Cassie Cain. I know some people think the dark haired girl is the Clayface fragment, but… c’mon, seriously, now. This would be the last appearance of every character save Nightwing, who makes a brief cameo in the final season of JLU.
• Flash’s place as the most compassionate member of the League is cemented in this episode, with his questioning of Hawkgirl’s decision to leave GL to the mercy of the Nazis and immediately dashing back into combat, then refusing to accept Hawkgirl’s defence of her actions later.
• The bit with Superman bursting into flames while battling the German air force is a shoutout to the original Human Torch, who fought the Nazis in the 40s alongside Captain America and the other Invaders.
• Does John Stewart have bad luck in season finales or what? Fried by Savage here, then getting the stuffing knocked out of him in Starcrossed, then the whole time paradox incedent.
• Neat technical bit from the commentary – the backgrounds on this episode are too bright because of a difference in calibration between the computers that scanned the painted backdrops in North America and the computers that outputted them at the animation studio in Korea.
• Okay, I can’t decide if there’s one Savage or two in the present time. He lived his normal life until 2002, went back in time to 1944 – where his prior self already lived – and went down with the transport. The catch, of course, is that he’s immortal, so either he’s buried at the bottom of the ocean and can’t escape, allowing his original self to appear later, or time just corrected itself. Me, I’m going with the latter. Or I wrote this too late in the day and totally forgot about the scene where Savage explains exactly what he did and instead got mixed up with The Time Warrior and other similar stories.
• Although the time portal was supposedly unstable, so how the heck did Savage know where the laptop was going to land? Screw it, I’m just writing this entire mess off to time travel making my head hurt.
• While we’re at it, Savage’s time machine design would show up again in his final appearance.
• I doubt it was intentional, but the fact that this episode ended with Superman hugging Batman and the second season premiere saw them placed at odds with each other right off the mark is a nice contrast.

Line of the Episode: “Kill me? You’re welcome to try.” Vandal Savage, hinting at his true nature.

Flash Line of the Episode: “Bats, you’re starting to scare me.” Starting?

Next time: PHEW! One whole season down. So I’m going to do a wrap-up post, then sit down and watch “Legacy” for the first time in about 10 years. Maybe New Frontier after that.

Next Justice League: Season Two kicks off in style, as Darkseid and the New Gods return for “Twilight”, as the series as a whole gets a LOT darker.

Buy the prints… here.

VIDEO (640×480; 54 mb; 2′23”; Xvid; ac3)

By Geoff Johns (writer), Ivan Reis (penciller), Oclair Albert & Joe Prado (inkers)

The Story: The leaders of the seven lantern corps ready themselves for an assault on the black power battery. Barry Allen and Wally West lead the DCU’s heavy hitters against the tide of black lanterns defending their own power battery in Coast City.

What’s Good: There is an epic scale going on here, more than I’ve seen in other major comic book events. It really is for all the marbles. Johns elicited the same emotions I had when I read Return of the King or Crisis on Infinite Earths. And just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, they do.

Although the scale of the action doesn’t allow very many character moments, Johns exploited the ones he does have. I loved the scene with the Flashes. Wally’s line “I’m the Nightwing to your Batman,” to Barry was revealing, almost as much as Barry’s reply “You’re the Flash to my Flash.” I can’t wait until April 2010 to see what Johns does with these characters in the new Flash series.

There’s lots of zombie slapdown if you’re more into the slugfest-apocalypse side of things. We also get to see Dove take on the black lanterns. For those who followed the Blackest Night: Titans miniseries, you’ll know what I’m talking about. And while we’re on the Titans mini, Donna Troy is now in a worse place in Blackest Night #5. I’m loving the fact that the Blackest Night minis are subplots and what happens in them affects the main book. Most events forget that.

Reis, Albert, Prado and Sinclair bring on some fine artwork. I’ve gone on and on about this art team in other BN reviews, but just to pick out a couple of the more evocative images, I really loved the bony matrix that the Atom and Mera shrank into and I loved the ropey muscle under dead the grey skin of the black guardian. The color work was ethereal in the right places and the mood dark and black in others.

What’s Not So Good: In all honesty, there’s little to complain about in Blackest Night. It’s true that writers can’t sustain tension on a high note forever, but I found some of the wise-cracking by the lantern corps a bit inauthentic for the level of tension that had already been established. Maybe those lanterns are scared and overcompensating, but to make that work, you need to lay a bit more ground work on the way the characters feel inside. That gets me to my main point about the book, which is not a flaw, but inevitability in an epic. It’s really hard to find the space to show what characters feel. I mentioned the great Flash moments above, but I couldn’t help but miss the perspectives of Superman and Wonder Woman. They’re so big that if they’re on the page, you expect much of the DCU to be turning to them for leadership and courage. All these are minor points, or results of the creative choices Johns et al had to make.

Conclusion: Another strong issue of Blackest Night. If you haven’t picked up this series yet, I’m not sure there’s help for you.

Grade: A-

-DS Arsenault

Details:
Pink Cami – NY&C
Gray Tank – Target
Black Sweater – Kohls
Gray Scarf – Walmart
Plaid Skirt – Marshalls
Gray Tights – IDK
Black Boots aka Wonder Womans – Chinese Laundry via DSW

Today was a very busy day for me at work. I went on a field trip. This actually proved to be trickier when I was getting dressed than I thought that it would be. First, we went to see a play. So I felt like I had to dress professionally. Second, it was raining. I then knew that I should wear boots and a skirt or dress instead of pants. I hate when my pants get wet from the rain. Third, I don’t have any light colored tights. I pulled out my black boots and gray tights and tried to think of what to wear that wouldn’t be a repeat, especially since I just wore my black boots on Friday and a different pair of gray tights this weekend. I then pulled out this skirt. I love the pattern in this skirt and am not sold on the fit of it for me. It worked, but I felt like it was big in the hips and shifted a lot.

Sorry for the late post, I am getting ready for our trip to Ohio for Thanksgiving!

Ich habe gerade auf Graphische Novellen die Review des Batwoman Arcs “Elegy” (Detective Comics #854-856) gelesen, welche mich zu ein paar Gedanken bezüglich homosexueller Comic-Helden/Heldinnen angeregt hat.

Nachdem die Autorin – nennt sich „irgendeine-Userin“ aber ich glaube es handelt sich hier eh um die ComicLeserin – Greg Ruckas Arbeit schon vor dem Lesen Rosen gestreut hat, überrascht mich weniger, dass sie den Arc positiv beurteilt hat, sondern viel mehr die Argumentation weshalb ihr dieser Arc so gefallen hat.

(Zur Erinnerung: In diesem Arg ging es um Batwomans Comeback und ihre Fehde mit Alice. Während das Artwork von J.H. Williams III abgefeiert wurde, bekam Ruckas Story verhaltene Reaktionen. Auch hier von mir…)

Im Gegensatz zur allgemeinen Meinung meint irgendeine-Userin nun:

Batwoman ist erstens eine Frau.
Zweitens ist sie eine Lesbe!

Im Mainstream der Superheldengeschichten sticht allein dies schon hervor.
Und die Hefte führen ihren Namen im Titel: Batwoman in Detective Comics.

Ich bin ja sonst keine Marktschreierin, aber wenn das nicht außergewöhnlich ist, dann weiß ich nicht…

Ich gebe der ComicLeserin nur bedingt Recht. Vielleicht würde dieses Argument bei jedem anderen Autor zu Recht zutreffen, aber gerade Greg Rucka ist berühmt/berüchtigt für seine starken Frauen die nicht selten auch lesbisch sind.

Auch da sich auch andere Autoren wie Bendis, Dini, Simone etc. schon seit längerem ernsthaft mit weiblichen Charakteren auseinandersetzen und sie nicht nur als Dekoration oder ewiges Opfer einbauen, spricht gegen das Argument, dass eine Heroine alleine schon etwas Besonderes wär. (Auch wenn ich diese Gruppierungen von Heldinnen wie bei „Gotham Sirens“ oder „Marvel Divas“ nicht unbedingt klasse finde…)

Was ihre Homosexualität betrifft: Klar begrüße ich jeden neuen homosexuellen Charakter, besonders wenn es eine prominente Figur wie Batwoman ist, aber ich finde nicht, dass ein lesbischer Haupt-Charakter alleine schon ausreicht um eine Story automatisch gut zu finden. Sollte es auch nicht, denn sonst passiert genau das, was bei Elegy passiert ist. Wir bekommen weibliche/lesbische Charaktere die nur zum Selbstzweck zu existieren scheinen und bei denen es daher ausreicht sie in eine maue Story zu verpacken.

Um dies weiter zu spinnen, wage ich zu prophezeien, dass diese Hefte auf Dauer – vorausgesetzt es läuft wo weiter – niemand kaufen würde und der Verlag die Figur/Serie aus dem Programm verschwinden lässt. Vermutlich noch mit der Vermutung dass die Zeit für eine (lesbische) Superheldin noch nicht reif sei…

Stichwort Ms. Marvel. Carol Danvers hätte so viel Potential und sollte ja eigentlich das feministische Aushängeschild von Marvel sein. Stattdessen wurde sie vergewaltigt (um anschließend mit dem Vergewaltiger zusammen zu leben), wurde eine Alkoholikern, mehrmals entmachtet oder sogar ermordet und für ihre Figur (!!!) beschimpft! Ms. Marvel! Für ihre Figur! Also das man bei den 90-60-90 wirklich noch Lookism einbauen kann topt wirklich alles… (Noch erschüttender ist aber das es Bendis war der Doom so entgleisen lies, der sie in Folge auch als “Whore” bezeichnete)

Besonders die letzten Monate unter Brian Reed hatte ich als Fan gelitten und bin nur dran geblieben weil ich mir eben dachte, dass irgendwer den Scheiß ja kaufen muss damit er im Programm bestehen bleibt.

So gesehen wäre es das Beste wenn Ms. Marvel demnächst eingestellt wird (worüber es ohnehin immer schon Gerüchte gab und gibt), denn vielleicht hat Marvel in ein paar Jahren endlich mal eine starke Autorin in den Reihen die der Superheldin zu einem ordentlichen Relaunch verhilft.

Aber wieder zurück zu den Graphischen Novellen der Review:

Irgendeine-Userin freut sich am Ende dann doch über die durchschnittlichen Reviews die Batwoman erhalten hat:

Aber ist ja schön, dass lesbische Superheldinnen nun zum Standard in den Comics geworden sind, so dass nur noch der Story Arc zu betrachten ist…

Sie hat zwar Recht, doch ist diese Betrachtungsweise schrecklich einseitig. Ja, lesbische Heldinnen sind schon so gut wie im Mainstream angekommen, bzw. werden sie von der männlich dominierten Leserschaft der Comics nicht als störend, sondern als mehr als „sexy“ wahrgenommen. Doch wie sieht es aber mit den schwulen Helden aus?

Auch wenn es im DC Universum mit Achilles unlängst erst ein Outing gegeben hat, ist dieser nur eine Nebenfigur die in keinster Weise Aufregung verursacht hat, ja nicht mal wirklich wahrgenommen wurde. Die queeren Hauptcharaktere schiebt man dann doch lieber aus Vorsicht auf die Wildstorm und Vertigo Imprints ab.

"Of Course not. I would never..."

Dass sie für diesen mutigen Schritt vielleicht zu Recht zu feig sind, zeigte sich unlängst erst mit Shatterstar bei Marvel. Aber auch hier muss ich sagen, dass Peter David sicherlich zurückgepfiffen worden wäre, wenn nicht X-Factor schon seit Ewigkeiten nur von einer kleinen, treuen Stammkundschaft gekauft wird, die sich von Homosexualität nicht abschrecken lassen, ja sie im Gegenteil sogar begrüßt.

Während lesbische Superheldinnen also sicherlich bereits im Mainstream angekommen sind, haben es schwule Helden noch immer schwer um Akzeptanz zu kämpfen.

Fairerweise muss ich dazu sagen dass ich nicht schwul bin und auch keine schwulen Kumpels habe die Comics lesen, während sich Graphische Novellen mehr oder weniger als „lesbischer Comic Blog“ sieht. Es ist nur logisch das queere Leser, sich mit queeren Helden/Heldinnen besser identifizieren können und daher den Batwoman-Arc allgemein positiver reviewen werden als z.b. ich es gemacht habe. Nehme ich zumindest mal an. Wie gesagt, ich habe ich niemanden den/die ich dazu befragen kann.

Zum Abschluss will ich noch etwas Anderes zu dem Thema queere Helden anmerken, was aber nichts mehr mit der Review, aber dennoch mit dem Graphischen Novellen Blog zu tun hat. Die Comic-Leserin merkt nämlich auch an:

… weil nicht immer Lesbe drauf stehen muss, wo Lesbe drin ist.

Dem kann ich nur 100 prozentig zustimmen! Das Schrecklichste was ich mir vorstellen könnte ist, dass ein Mainstream-Superhelden-Comic mit „Queer Comic“ gebrandet wird, so wie es bei den Mangas z.b. ein eigenes Genre von Shonen Ai gibt. (Witzigerweise wird das aber meines Wissens von Frauen für Frauen gemacht…)

Einen Comic den man explizit als „schwul/lesbisch“ bewirbt, halte ich für äußerst kontraproduktiv und würde auch nie die Hetero-Zielgruppe erreichen. Auch wenn Comics schon lange nicht mehr nur von Kids gelesen werden, würden diese niemals ein Comic kaufen von dem jeder weiß dass es einen schwulen Helden hat. Schon alleine aus Angst dass sie von ihren Kollegen gemobbt werden…

Um dem entgegenzuwirken muss ein(e) coole(r) homosexueller Held/Heldin entweder erst langsam in das Universum eingebracht werden (fabelhaft gemacht mit Midnighter bei Stormwatch der ja später auch ne eigene Serie bekam) oder es muss sich eine wirklich wichtiger Charakter outen.

Midnighter im Krieg...

...und in der Liebe

Auf Letzteres können wir aber wahrscheinlich ewig warten, denn seien wir ehrlich, würde Bendis seinen Luke Cage nicht so sehr pushen, hätten wir nicht mal eine schwarze Hauptfigur mit einer zentralen Rolle. (und nicht mal Cage hat einen eigenen Titel sondern mischt nur bei den New Avengers kräftig mit)

Ich glaube auch nicht, dass Batwoman eine große Rolle im DC Universum zu kommen wird und zumindest vorerst mal abgegrenzt vom Rest der Welt laufen wird. Und um hier auf Dauer zu überleben, und danach den Sprung zu einem richtigen Main-Character zu schaffen, braucht das Heft eben auch ne tolle Story die der Heldin erlaubt sich zu entwickeln und den Leser dranbleiben lässt.

Batwoman hat gut begonnen, sackte dann aber enorm ab und es gibt nicht wenige die der (meiner Meinung nach sogar noch schwächere) Question (ebenfalls eine Lesbe) Back-Story den Vorzug gaben.

So gesehen glaube ich also nicht, dass Batwoman der queeren Comic-Community nur irgendwie weiterhilft und sehe die Serie im besten Fall neben dem normalen DC Universum dahintrotten. Und das kann’s ja auch nicht sein…

PS: Sorry, wenn ein paar Formulierungen etwas verschachtelt klingen. Bin gerade krank und lese die Artikel generell nie Korrektur bevor ich sie online stelle…

Which one is your favourite?

These excellent supercute superheroes are by JSalvador and you can buy them for $20 each over on Etsy.

Never too old

The other day I was presented with one of the bestest birthday presents my teen brain trapped in a 25-year-old’s body could have asked for. A lunch box. But this is not just any lunch box. It has Wonder Woman looking oh so wonderful on it.

She fights crime and still manages to retain her dignity in a minuscule leotard.

My friend – who obviously knows me far, far too well – presented me with this enchanting lunch box as a belated birthday present. And my reaction was instant. Glee. Wonderful Wonder Woman glee.

I threw out my stained cheap tupperware left over from one too many chinese takeaways. This was the new box on the shelf in the ELLE fridge.

No one is too old for a lunch box. Just so long as it’s small enough to fit into your handbag. My ‘ironic’ days of carrying a full-size Mr Men lunch box to university lectures are over.

If only I’d used my Wonder Woman this morning when I had an unfortunate yoghurt exploding incident while running for the bus. The bus driver didn’t wait. And I lost a perfectly good yoghurt.

I’ve learned my lesson.

1896: Se considera como el nacimiento del cómic con la aparición de la primera tira cómica, The Yellow Kid creada por Richard Fenton Outcalt que además introdujo los “globitos” como recurso para que sus personajes se expresaran.

1929: Surge el primer intento de comercialización del cómic con Funnies No. 1, sin nada de éxito.

1930: Las tiras cómicas ganan popularidad, con personajes como Anita la Huerfanita, Popeye, Dick Tracy, antecesor indirecto del Cómic Negro y creado por Chester Gould, Flash Gordon de Alex Raymond y el más exitoso de todos, Tarzán, creación de Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Vídeos de Dick Tracy

Vídeo de Flah Gordon

Tarzán en el cine

  1931: Aparece por primera vez Superman en el fanzine Science Fiction: The Vanguard of Future Civilization #3, creación del escritor Jerry Siegel y el dibujante Joe Shuster. La idea les pareció buena pero no tuvieron éxito cuando trataron de comercializarla ya que las editoriales pensaban que un personaje tan poderoso no podría tener éxito.

Superman en el cine:

SuperMan (clásica)

SuperMan Returns

1933: Famous Funnies es considerado el primer cómic. Fue una re-impresión de varias tiras cómicas, en formato de comic book.

1936: Se crea el primer superhéroe tal y como los conocemos, aunque irónicamente no tiene ningún poder sobrenatural. The Phantom dibujada por el artista Lee Falk, aparece como tira cómica en los diarios norteamericanos y cuenta la historia de un hombre que utiliza un disfraz púrpura y un antifaz para proteger su identidad y así poder combatir el crimen. Porta dos pistolas calibre .45 y monta un corcel blanco.

1937: Se lanza Detective Comics No 1, posteriormente la compañía toma las iniciales para crear DC Comics, una de las casas editoriales más importantes actualmente.

1938: El cómic comienza a tomar cada vez más importancia, pero es hasta que Joe Shuster y Jerry Siegel presentan en Action Comics #1 (junio de 1938) a Superman que nace la Época de Oro.

1939: El segundo superhéroe en cobrar importancia es Batman, creado por Bob Kane y presentado en mayo de 1939 en Detective Comics #27. Aparecen por primera vez juntos dos de los superhéroes más importantes de todos los tiempos, Batman y Superman, en la portada de New York Worlds Fair Comics #1, aunque nunca aparecieron en una misma historia hasta 1952. Se crea Timely Comics, que a la postre se convertiría en Marvel Comics, con el lanzamiento de La Antorcha Humana (no confundir con Johnny Storm) y Prince Namor: El Sub-Marinero.

Batman en el cine:

Batman Begins

Batman: El caballero Oscuro

La Antorcha Humana en la película “Los 4 Fantásticos”

1940: Para esta década el personaje más popular es Capitán Marvel (Shazam) cuya primera aparición se dio en Whiz Comics (Número 1 en portada y 2 en interiores), publicado por Fawcett Publications. Posteriormente DC obtiene los derechos y crea la revista Shazam! cuyo primer número corresponde a febrero de 1973.

1941: Se lanza el primer cómic con contenido bélico, haciendo aparición el superhéroe más patriótico de todos los tiempos, Capitán América, en Captain America #1 creación de Jack Kirby y Joe Simon. Otra inclusión importante es la de Wonder Woman de William Moulton Marston (creador del detector de mentiras).

1952: Aparece en Superman #76 la primera historia de Superman y Batman juntos escrita por Edmond Hamilton y dibujado por Curt Swan.

1954: El New York Worlds Fair Comics cambia su nombre a Worlds Finest Comics. En el #71 de dicha serie Superman y Batman aparecen en la portada y se incluye una historia de los superhéroes juntos. A partir de entonces la revista se dedica a publicar exclusivamente historias protagonizadas por Superman y Batman, y desde ese momento el dúo se conoce extraoficialmente como World´s Finest (Los Mejores del Mundo) y aparecen varios crossovers en sus respectivas publicaciones.

La década de los cincuentas fue difícil para el Noveno Arte, ya que la censura Mcarthista afectó a todos los géneros del cómic y, con la conjunción de diferentes circunstancias termina una de las mejores etapas del Arte Gráfico Secuencial. La Época de Oro termina, lamentablemente, con la publicación del libro Seduction of the Innocent del psiquiatra austriaco Frederick Wertham donde planteaba la teoría ultraconservadora anti-cómic de que éstos inducían a los jóvenes a cometer actos delictivos y atentaban contra la moral.

En consecuencia directa se crea el Comics Code Authority, un código para regir los contenidos de los comics donde queda estrictamente prohibido la aparición de temas sexuales, políticos o de violencia (de manera ilustrada o escrita) además también prohibía que personajes terroríficos aparecieran como protagonistas de comics. Por si no fuera poco, se crea The Comics Magazine Association of America, que regularizó los temas de varias revistas de terror, prohibiendo la aparición de sangre, tortura, vampiros, hombres lobo, lujuria, necrofagia, necrofilia, canibalismo, zombis y las palabras horror y terror.

1956: Durante los años subsecuentes a la creación del CCA, varias casas editoriales fracasan, desaparecen personajes importantes y las ventas bajan considerablemente. Es hasta que aparece Barry Allen, mejor conocido como Flash, que la industria da un nuevo respiro y nace oficialmente la Época de Plata del cómic. Otro acontecimiento importante es el lanzamiento de Fantastic Four el cual dio inicio a la denominada Era Marvel del Cómic. Marvel lanza personajes tan importantes como Spider-Man, X-Men y Daredevil entre otros.

Daredevil en el cine

Actualmente el Noveno Arte es uno de los movimientos más importantes, con gran número de personajes, corrientes, temas y autores renombrados. La industria del cómic ha evolucionado con el tiempo, convirtiéndose en uno de las formas de contar historias más populares, dedicando convenciones a nivel mundial, programas de radio, revistas especializadas, tiendas exclusivas y un largo etcétera.

Se acaba este arco argumental de transición. La JLA número 37 marca el fin de una etapa bastante pobre aunque en estos tres episodios Len Wein llevó a cabo un trabajo muy digno en el guión, con la Liga de la Justicia enfrentada a las maquinaciones de Roulette y Amos Fortune.

Hay mucha acción y tenemos la participación de Wonder Woman y el carismático Plastic Man. Y que Superman esté en la portada no es publicidad engañosa. Les aseguro que también tiene un rol en la historia.

Descárgalo desde acá (4shared).
Muchas gracias a la traducción de Idevnam y maquetación de Mal.

…oder andere Probleme haben, mit diesem interessanten Sujet beschäftigen sich zwei Künstler. Das Ergebnis ist durchaus amüsant.

Als Comic: Donald Soffritti

Fast noch schöner: Als Installation

Zum Beispiel diese nette Episode hier:

via Nerdcore

SHINee with ‘Ring Ding Dong’
~~they are back in full force with Onew recovered from H1N1 =DDD

Other performances below the cut include:

-H-Eugene’s Comeback ft. Sunday (CJSH The Grace) with ‘Love Warning’
-K.Will with ‘Miss, Miss and Miss’
-2PM with ‘Heartbeat’
-SS501 with ‘Love Like This’
-Brown Eyed Girls with ‘Sign’
-f(x) with ‘Chu~♡’
-FT Triple with ‘Love Letter’
-MBLAQ with ‘Oh Yeah’ + Dance Break
-BEAST with ‘Bad Girl’
~~Doojoon is missing today….
-SeeYa with ‘His Voice’
-Secret with ‘I Want You Back’
-A-Force with ‘Wonder Woman’
-Run with ‘She’s Strong’
-December with ‘Love Is So’

H-Eugene’s Comeback ft. Sunady (CJSH The Grace) with ‘Love Warning’

K.Will with ‘Miss, Miss and Miss’

2PM with ‘Heartbeat’

SS501 with ‘Love Like This’

Brown Eyed Girls with ‘Sign’

f(x) with ‘Chu~♡’

FT Triple with ‘Love Letter’

MBLAQ with ‘Oh Yeah’ + Dance Break

BEAST with ‘Bad Girl’

SeeYa with ‘His Voice’

Secret with ‘I Want You Back’

A-Force with ‘Wonder Woman’

Run with ‘She’s Strong’

December with ‘Love Is So’

Taeyang’s Comeback with ‘Wedding Dress’ + Countdown

Other performances under the cut include:

-SS501 with ‘Love Like This’ + #1!
~~congrats to them! they finally got #1!
-2PM with ‘Heartbeat’
~~for some reason this song isn’t that addictive for me…i actually like the remix more rofl
-H-Eugene’s Comeback with ‘Love Warning’ ft. Sunday (CJSH The Grace)
-MC Sniper’s Comeback with ‘Magic Castle’
-U-KISS with ‘Man Man Ha Ni’
-Brown Eyed Girls with ‘Sign’
-DNT’s Comeback with ‘The Love in My Heart’
-Wheesung with ‘Trickling’
-f(x) with ‘Chu~♡’
-IU with ‘Marshmallow’
~~the song’s cute but I really prefer songs like ‘Mia’
-K.Will with ‘Miss, Miss and Miss’
-SHU-I with ‘Please Help Me’
-Lee Soo Young with ‘Don’t Call My Name’
-December with ‘Love Is So’
-Kim Tae Woo ft. Lyn with ‘When I say Hey, You say Yeah!’
-Yurisangja’s Comeback with ‘Bad Guy’
-Secret with ‘I Want You Back’
-A-Force with ‘Wonder Woman’
-Mighty Mouth ft. JiEun (Secret) with ‘Smile’

SS501 with ‘Love Like This’ + #1!

2PM with ‘Heartbeat’

H-Eugene’s Comeback with ‘Love Warning’ ft. Sunday (CJSH The Grace)

MC Sniper’s Comeback with ‘Magic Castle’

U-KISS with ‘Man Man Ha Ni’

Brown Eyed Girls with ‘Sign’

DNT’s Comeback with ‘The Love in My Heart’
[yotuube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNyx73WQ6k0]

Wheesung with ‘Trickling’

f(x) with ‘Chu~♡’

IU with ‘Marshmallow’

K.Will with ‘Miss, Miss and Miss’

SHU-I with ‘Please Help Me’

Lee Soo Young with ‘Don’t Call My Name’

December with ‘Love Is So…’

Kim Tae Woo ft. Lyn with ‘When I say Hey, You say Yeah!’

Yurisangja’s Comeback with ‘Bad Guy’

Secret with ‘I Want You Back’

A-Force with ‘Wonder Woman’

Mighty Mouth ft. JiEun (Secret) with ‘Smile’

Details:
Dress – London Times via TJ Maxx
Blouse – NY&C
Earrings – unsure
Belt – NY&C
Fishnets – Simply Vera via Kohls
Boots aka Wonder Womans – Chinese Laundry via DSW

Today was not a casual Friday at work. We had parents coming for conferences and so I decided to go ahead and wear a dress. One of my coworkers told me that I looked very Mod. I liked that description very much. I felt Mod in a good way. Today’s real inspiration came from two sources. First the ladies over at the B/C Changeover are doing a no fear challenge and are wearing those things in the closet that don’t get a lot of use. It inspired me to not just look through my closet, but to clean out my closet last night. As I was cleaning out my closet, I came across the patterned blouse that I love but rarely wear because it is very unstructured and the bow doesn’t always work. The other part of this outfit was inspired by Danielle at Fell 4 Fashion. She has this little black dress that is similar to my dress in the pleating and the belting. She often wears different shirts under it and it looks amazing! I decided to try it because of this look. I added the belt for some extra structure. I loved how this look came out.

Extra bonus – when cleaning out my closet – I found my glasses!! Yay for wearing scratch free glasses to see!

Mientras que sigue la búsqueda infructuosa de la Mujer Maravilla (no es joda.. abrieron un grupo de búsqueda y todo. Esto se está yendo de mambo. Porque además si algún día la encuentro lo primero que le voy a decir es “Perdón!”), la semana pareció acomodarse. Volví a recuperar los días enteros, con mañanas incluídas -aunque algunas se me quejen de que ya no las acompaño más en las madrugadas-; a trabajar, a mandar currículums, a mandar presupuestos, a andar en bicicleta.

El lunes me encontré con Inés, una compañera de la facultad. Desde hace tiempo estaba saliendo con una persona que no le servía. Pero claro, ¿quién se la juega y le dice que el que está saliendo con ella es un imbécil? A veces nadie. En este caso, casi todos. Y optó por él y no por nosotros. El tiempo nos dio la razón, y el jueves antes del casamiento de Alejandra se separó. Alegría para todos. En la fiesta, mientras bailábamos, me contó algunas cosas no muy buenas de él, y que quería mudarse pero que no podía porque andaba media endeudada (pagando las cuentas de él digamos). Así que bueno… le ofrecí mis ahorros. Y allá se fue mi viaje, por lo menos hasta marzo del año que viene. Es que para eso están los amigos, ¿verdad?. Así que el lunes nos vimos, le di el dinero, hablamos un rato, y admiramos como nuevamente el clima se ponía loco. Cuando me iba me dice:

- Che, nos vemos el sábado en el cumpleaños de Luciana, ¿verdad?
- Bueno… no tuve el placer de ser invitado creo.
- ¿Seguro?, mirá que mandó un mail a mucha gente invitándo. Fijate bien
- Estoy casi seguro, pero me fijo
- ¡Andá a saber qué le hiciste!

O qué no le hice. Detalles de la vida asumo. Martes y miércoles -clasificación de Uruguay incluída- fueron casi normales. Mucho trabajo, los ojos cuadraditos de mirar la pantalla, y no demasiado más. Hasta que Claudia -una especie de compañera de trabajo virtual- me llama por el msn.

Claudia dice:
Pablo… cómo andás loquito?
Pablo! dice:
Bien de bien ¿y vos Clau?
Claudia dice:
Estresadísima!!… che, perdoná que te moleste. ¿Qué tenés para hacer el miércoles que viene?
Pablo! dice:
Clau… deberías saber que es imposible que pueda planificar con tanta antelación! Es decir, quizás sí tengo cosas, pero ya me las olvidé : ) Por? A qué me estás invitando?
Claudia dice:
porque bueno, finalmente llegó la fecha
Pablo! dice:
la fecha? QUÉ FECHA?
Claudia dice:
el miércoles que viene nos casamos con Martín! No te voy a llevar la tarjeta, pero si querés te la mando por mail, si?

Como muchos dicen por ahí, el guionista de arriba se está tomando esto como una jodita para VideoMatch o algo similar. Vamos, es hora de ir cortando con esto de los casamientos. Sobre todo porque dos horas después (quizás menos, quizás más… esto de no usar reloj no ayuda tampoco) el guionista volvió a revolver la herida.

Claudia dice:
che, perdón que te joda de nuevo y que pregunte pero… ¿vas acompañado? Perdón, pero es que los del salón me preguntan por la cantidad exacta de gente
Pablo! dice:
Pues no, por el momento no puedo decir que vaya acompañado. Ahora, si llego a encontrar a la Mujer Maravilla te pego el grito
Claudia dice:
: D

Superman/Batman #66
Written by Scott Kolins
Art by Kolins

As it turns out, Bizarro is much more interesting in Black Lantern emotional spectrum vision then he is without it. Haha. I like that he said he was full of rage when the Black Lantern saw love. Nice use of the opposite speech and twisting it to fit Blackest Night perfectly. It was also great to see Frankenstein and the Bride. This was good but a little rushed. It was a quick read.

Adventure Comics #4
Written by Geoff Johns and Sterling Gates
Art by Jerry Ordway
Co-Feature by Johns and Michael Shoemaker
Art by Clayton Henry

If it weren’t for the fact that I know Johns is leaving this book after issue six, I would be okay with this Blackest Night interlude focusing on Superboy-Prime versus Black Lantern Alex Luthor but with this interlude, it means we are only getting one more issue of Superboy and that just sucks. Oh well. This was still good. It was great to see Earth-Prime comic shops and Superboy-Prime reading them to find out what happens next. And of course it was just awesome to see my  favorite Legion (The Legion of Earth-Prime) back! But I got to say that we just saw Superboy-Prime in Legion of Three Worlds and I think he is being brought back way too soon. The Legion back-up was probably the best it has been yet with a sweet story about Blok and White Witch.

Wonder Woman… SECRETS!

I moonlight as a sculptor of those Precious Moments Figurines. Sad clowns are my specialty.

SECRETS…

People always call me "Super Woman." I've made my peace with it. Kal, on the other hand, hates when people call him "Wonder Man." He can be such a little girl.

SECRETS…

My plane isn't invisible. It's in-VISIBLE. It's MORE than visible.

SECRETS…

At a JLA Thanksgiving party, I once told a version of "The Aristocrats" that made Guy Gardner blush.

SECRETS!

Poster de "Melt Banana" de Michael Hacker

Bienvenidos a una nueva edición de J1m’s Picks, la reseña semanal con los 10 links más jugosos de la semana en materia de cómics, ilustración, videojuegos, porno y demás menesteres de cualquier procastinador respetable. Todos los enlaces han sido publicados por los redactores de Zuplemento en nuestro twitter durante la semana,  y esta compilación va especialmente dedicada a los chigüires que no se han enñadido al guateque. Asi que inflen sus flotadores y sumerjanse en esta pileta sin fondo de basura en línea.

09 NOV A day in the life Un corto interesante animado del ilustrador Harry Nesbitt: “A timelapse animation that follows the life of an uninspired city dweller”.

09 NOV Ware esta en todas partes La imágen de arriba es la portada de un libro con diseño, colores, tipografías y composición, cuya autoría podría atribuirse a primera vista al dibujante de cómics  Chris Ware, pues bien, la cosa parece pero no es, este enlace habla sobre la influencia de el Sr. Ware en el Diseño Gráfico, la Ilustración y los Cómics de la actualidad.

10 NOV Dodgem Logic la nueva publicación del guionista de cómics más cool del planeta: Alan Moore, conocido mundialmente por obras como Watchmen, V de Vendetta y un largo etcétera, se estrena este noviembre en el Reino Unido, aparecerá bimensualmente, e incluye cómics escritos y dibujados por el propio Moore, asi como otros duros como Jamie Hewlett y Kevin O’neill, la imágen de arriba corresponde a la portada del primer ejemplar, y para un extenso artículo/entrevista sobre la misma haz click en el enlace.

12 NOV Michael Hacker Gig Posters este pana es un ilustrador radicado en Austria, que se dedica a realizar posters de los toques que hacen en la ciudad de Viena, así, Sonic Youth, The Melvins, Mastodon y Dinosaur Jr son solo algunas de las bandas para las que ha trabajado, y la imágen que adorna el intro de este post, es otra de sus creaciones.

13 NOV Entrevista a Liniers & Kevin Johansen estos panas siguen de gira con su show de música e ilustraciones en vivo, el TeamZup los entrevistó hace unos meses (y aparte le chuleamos a Liniers la portada del SDZ#80, EPIC!) a su paso por Caracas, así que mientras Ze se activa a subir nuestra entrevista, acá les dejo una que realizaron en hace unos días en España.

13 NOV Sasha Grey Wonder Woman bueno el título lo dice todo, la estrella porno más cotizada de los últimos años se pone el trajecito de amazona justiciera, para sodomizar malhechores con su lazo, disfruten del resto de la galería haciendo click en el link.

14 NOV Wired Best Sci-fi flicks (I) & (II) la revista Wired elaboró dos listados con las mejores películas de ciencia ficción de la historia, antes y después de Star Wars.

14 NOV Charles Burns Mega Gallery siguiendo con la campaña zuplementisitica de veneración a los Tres Reyes Magos (Burns, Clowes y Ware), acá les dejo una extensa galería de imagenes de Burns, la misma incluye varios trabajos originales e inéditos, un goldmine.

15 NOV 101 hottest Slave Princess Leia pics para mantener la onda softcore de este post, otra galería con eye-candy geek, algunas de esta jevas están más ricas que la actriz original…nuff’ said.

15 NOV Hardest Videogames of all Time, no jugué todos los que salen en la lista pero algo está claro, o nunca jugaron Punch-Out de NES, o se olvidaron de ponerlo en la compilación, sin embargo coincido con el primer puesto a ver que opina ustedes.

Y bueno se acabó lo que se daba, los espero la próxima semana porque “el cómic es cultura“.