2010

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A lot of good stuff to choose from this week, but I had to go with Batman & Robin #15 with art by Frazer Irving, because while I “diggs me some Dick Grayson scooting around in the kevlar pajamas” (to borrow from a hilarious line in Power Girl this week)…there is only one Batman to me…and that’s motherfucking Bruce Wayne:

‘Nuff said?

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A new She Has No Head! – about the Tamara Drewe graphic novel turned film, and the art of adaptation – is up.  Check it out!

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It’s no secret that I’ve been loving the hell out of Fiona Staples DV8 Covers for the Brian Wood & Rebekah Isaacs Gods & Monsters mini-series, and this week is no exception.  A beautiful cover featuring what’s turned into one of my favorite characters – Freestyle – that I hope is not going to bite it.  Please please please Brian!

It’s also of note that while I ended up going for a panel of the week not from this book (that post goes up Tuesday 10/26), this entire goddamn book could have been scanned and posted as Panel(s) of the week.  It is BEAUTIFUL.  Rebekah Issacs’ not only renders her characters exceptionally but she has a real gift for storytelling and stunning action set pieces.  Much of this series has been set in an “undeveloped civilization” and has featured warring tribes battling on epic natural battlefields…and Isaacs has just delivered a completely compelling and really cinematic visual experience.  Overall it has been an amazing series, and I can say without a doubt is one of the best written, best drawn books I have read this year.  I’ll miss it immensely when it ends next month.  If you haven’t been reading it, I urge you to seek it out and if you can’t find it or can’t afford it, make sure to pick up the trade April 2011.

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Join us as we lament the “amateur hour X-Men” of The X-Men animated series episode #4 and I try my best to defend Star Wars A New Hope as these jokers try to blame it for inconsistencies between New Hope and its prequels, which came AFTER it.  Where is the logic there?!  😉

AudioShocker A Podcast with Justique and Kelly #71.

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Sometimes comics are just flat out pretty, like this gorgeous panel by Ryan Sook from Batman: The Return Of Bruce Wayne #5:

But it’s also great when they’re adorable and funny, like this one by Javier Pulido for Black Cat #4:

In fact, seeing Spider-Man and Black Cat together, as a non-regular Spidey reader I can only ask…why oh why are these two not together?  I mean I know she’s a bit of an anti-hero and they have drama about which side she’s on…but that’s like the built-in spice you need for any ongoing relationship in comics (or anything serial).  I suppose it could be because Felicia doesn’t want to constantly bring him bad luck?  Is that it?  That kind of makes sense, I guess.  But these two have great chemistry…it’s a shame they can’t work it out.  Especially on the heels of Spider-Man getting somewhat forcibly paired up with Carlie…which most fans seem to hate. Like I said, I don’t regularly read Spider-Man (although I like him immensely and if had less books I probably would) but I’m not sure why publishers would force a character on Spidey as his girlfriend when so many fans hate it when there are so many other appealing options still out there…you can’t cater to fans every whim of course, but they are your readers…sometimes it pays to listen to what they DO NOT WANT.  Anyway, for the record I would read the hell out of a Black Cat ongoing…especially if written by Jen Van Meter, this book was lots of fun.

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Please head over to SHNH to check out the final installment of the wildly successful Ladies Comics Project!

 

Illustration by Tara O'Connor

 

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This Massimo Carnevale offering for Northlanders #33 is an easy win this week.  The use of light is just awesome.

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And in this one I’m sick, yay!  I also get to tell Nick, Justique, and Ross all about how Rogue was as dumb as the Warwolves on the old Jim Lee 9o’s trading cards.  Wooo!

And in case you were dying for it, here’s part II (or “episode 69” oooooh) from my first cast, which went up on Saturday:

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Hey Folks:

I guest posted again for Chad Nevett’s Random Thoughts! column on CSBG while he’s away this week.  I love doing Random Thoughts! it’s such a nice change from She Has No Head!, check it out of if you get a chance.

~ Kelly

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This week’s offering from guest pencils by Celia Calle in Madame Xanadu #27 is gorgeous and gives me a chance to talk about context in comics.  But first, here’s the panel:

So under normal circumstances this would be a total example of the always frustrating brokeback pose*, however in context it totally works.  First of all, this character, unlike most superheroines, IS a model.  So it makes sense to me that she’s posing and strutting and trying her best to strike poses that are exaggerated, dramatic, sexual, and even controversial.  Her JOB is to make people look at her body, and better yet, to make them yearn for it (and whatever she happens to be wearing/selling/etc.).  This pose (though still pretty much impossible) makes SENSE for her in the context of who and what she is and her purpose (at least what we know of it).

Secondly, the clothing.  That is clothing fit for a MODEL, not for a superhero, and again, that’s what she is.  And I love those clothes, they are crazy hott.  Thigh highs? SEXY.  Miniskirts? SEXY.  I think there’s this perception that women that complain about portrayals of women in comics don’t like anything sexy…so wrong.  We just want the sexy where it belongs and used in moderation so everything and every woman does not look exactly the same.  This is a good example of where it belongs.

You also can’t compare this image to more realistic imagery as the artist is working in a crazy exaggerated style (one that is a great fit for the story inside I think) but one that is obviously not based on any kind of reality.

Beyond the “controversy” what do I like about this?  Well, it’s just cool looking – the limited color palette is gorgeous, the stylized exaggerated forms are crazy cool, and the perspective is striking as well.  It’s really interesting to me and actually reminds me a little of a more dramatic but not quite as polished version of Stuart Immonen’s art for Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. I wish we had Calle on a regular book that would call for this kind of stylized exaggerated style, it would be a fun read.

*the brokeback pose in comics means a character that is twisted in such a way (usually to show both her tits and ass at the same time) as to make her back look broken.

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