· comics

Top Five Iconic Covers

October 1, 2009 in art, artists, cartoons, comics, feminism, feminist rants, rants, rogue | 3 comments

Brian Cronin over at CBR has been doing a Top Five Most Iconic Covers for individual characters, and it’s a really great idea (read: I wish I’d thought of it first). Like most idiots with an opinion I have often been disagreeing with some of his picks, but having learned first hand how hard it is to pick a “top” anything, I’ve been keeping my mouth shut. But he featured my girl Rogue this week and I can no longer be silenced!

Here are Cronin’s picks.

The list isn’t even that bad, I think in my own list (see below) I have to use three of the five he uses, however the use of that Paul Smith cover as number one is just criminal. That cover is completely a Wolvie cover, not a Rogue cover and while the actual issue marks pretty big developments for the character and her evolution, the cover does not relay that same message. Epic fail.

So here’s MY list:

5. Andy Kubert

As discussed on my Best 100 Covers post, as an adult and as an artist, I kind of hate this cover for a lot of reasons, but as a 16 year old girl, my heart literally went all ‘pitter pat’ in my chest and didn’t stop for, like, YEARS. And independent of my personal feelings, this relationship was a major part of Rogue’s 90’s storyline, and affected her character hugely both at this point in time and (for good or ill) pretty much the rest the character’s life thus far.

4. Walt Simonson

Cronin is right that this cover is iconic because of the “hope you survive the experience” homage that at this point had become classic and iconic on its own, but perhaps it’s even more iconic because in Rogue’s case it was a more accurate statement than ever before. Although, perhaps they should have changed up the meme to read, “Welcome To The X-Men Rogue…Hope The X-Men Survive The Experience” considering the fact that the entire team tries to quit on principle when Xavier lets her in.

3. John Romita Jr.

This is a great cover, and a great issue, that was a huge development in Rogue’s growth as a character. It foreshadowed great things for the character and managed to be a milestone issue for both Rogue and Storm. Neither of them would ever be the same after this issue – and that is the mark of a great comic – and this cover conveys that feeling – which is the mark of a great cover.

2. Marc Silvestri

This Genosha storyline was a big turning point for Rogue, both emotionally as she battled the unexpected side effects of losing her cursed powers; and perhaps even more importantly, it spotlighted the relationship with the Carol Danvers personality living inside of her. This was the first arc (if I recall correctly) that Rogue and Danvers agreed on an uneasy peace, if only for their combined survival. And it kicked off a fantastic ongoing storyline about their constant battle for control of Rogue’s body.

1. Jim Lee

And here’s where control of that body comes to a head, more than thirty issues later. This milestone issue featured the final and long awaited separation of Carol Danvers and Rogue with surprising results after Rogue was shot through the Siege Perilous by Dazzler (you bitch Dazzler). This issue is important both because it truly highlights how much our heroine has changed, and because as a result of this issue, there are new rules for Rogue and Danvers. They’ve been permanently separated, but Rogue has retained the powers. For good or ill this changed Rogue’s direction and is a critical arc in her evolution. It’s also gorgeous, but you guys know I’m a fan.

Ironically, I think that this cover to X-Men Classic #77…

…really proves my point about why Cronin’s pick of X-Men #173 is a real miss. The cover above, a re-imagining by Adam Hughes of the original Paul Smith X-Men #173 cover is a pretty great example of a Rogue cover…with the positions reversed like this (i.e. Rogue in front instead of back) it works as a Rogue cover, but would you ever in a million years put this on a list of most iconic Wolverine covers? No way. Now of course Wolvie has more iconic covers out there than just about any other Marvel character, but still, I’m sure you can see my point.

Just for fun here are a few of my other favorite covers featuring Rogue. I wouldn’t call them all iconic, but I would call them all awesome. It’s a little bit shocking actually, how few powerful and truly moving covers Rogue has, she’s been a fan favorite for a long time, and it’s really not evident in looking up her covers…

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Wednesday Comics…The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread? I Say YES.

September 23, 2009 in art, artists, awesomeness, comics, paul pope | 5 comments

Someone at DC deserves a raise (probably Mark Chiarello) because the limited 12 issue run Wednesday Comics is the best idea (and the best execution of said idea) I’ve seen in a very long time. These beautiful, full color newsprint broadsheet style comics, each telling 16 individual full page on-going weekly stories by some of the most talented writers and artists working in comics today are quite frankly…awesome.

The real genius of the project comes from DC Art Director Mark Chiarello approaching some of the absolute best writers and artists in the industry and simply asking them what character and story they would most like to tell given the opportunity. That freedom to tell any story, to take on any character, without having to worry (so much) about all the other stuff – like heavy editorial interference (etc.) had absolutely breathtaking results. The authors and illustrators love for the characters and story is not only palpable, but contagious.

EXCERPT FROM MARK CHIARELLO’S INTERVIEW WITH NEWSARAMA:

MC: I think that’s an astute observation. In comics, creators are often asked what they would want to do with a certain character within certain boundaries, but this is “what do you want to do?” from the very start.

That’s what I did when I did Solo, I picked the artists, like Tim Sale, for example, and just let him go. As an artist myself, I can tell you that you’re very rarely asked to do what you really want to do – historically, I think every comic book company could take a bit of a lesson from that. I don’t think someone called Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons and said, “We’ve got this idea called Watchmen that we’d like you to take a go at.” That sprung from them.

Emphasis mine. And what a great lesson that is. I hope that Chiarello quote gets posted on the walls of corporations everywhere.

I didn’t read all of the stories, mostly because some characters just interest me more than others – for example despite Dave Gibbons being an utter genius I’ve just never been that interested in Kamandi. There are a few cases where the format does not work to the authors’ advantage such as in the Wonder Woman strip. Ben Caldwell’s Wonder Woman has perhaps some of my favorite illustration work in the entire series, but the layout for the story is overly complicated, too small, and confusing, making it nearly impossible to read. At some point (issue #2?) I gave up on reading Wonder Woman…but that’s the great thing about Wednesday Comics…where one story fails one person or another, there is still so much left to choose from and to still get incredible enjoyment (not to mention your money’s worth) out of a single issue.

Above: Caldwell’s Wonder Woman – beautiful!

The art across the board is fantastic, although Amanda Conner, Eduardo Risso, Joe Quinones, Brenden Fletcher, Rob Leigh, Kyle Baker, and Lee Bermejo stand out as particularly exceptional.

My personal favorites are Batman (natch), Superman, Green Lantern (shocking! I’ve never thought of myself as a Hal Jordan fan), Flash, Deadman, Metamorpho, and The Demon and The Cat Woman. I’m not usually a fan of the silliness of super pets but Palmiotti’s Supergirl is a nice breath of fresh air in the usually so serious superhero world and Conner’s cartooning for Supergirl really cannot be beat.

Above: Amanda Conner’s Supergirl

I think one of the things that Wednesday Comics also nails, without perhaps even trying to, is their success in capturing the nostalgia of a simpler time. I’m not that old (okay, I’m sorta old) but I never really had the true youth experience of reading superhero comics in the newspaper like many others, but I can still appreciate the format and it somehow still reminds me of my childhood, which given all the screw ups in comics these days is really one of the reasons I always come back to them. Better memories of simpler times in my life…and my perceived belief that that meant a simpler time in the world at large.

Above: Eduardo Risso’s Batman

Today (9/23/09) marks the last issue of the twelve week, twelve issue run. The finale in a great experiment that I hope DC will make a habit of – perhaps every summer for the rest of my life? Or better yet, perhaps they can find a way to translate what made these stories so refreshing and wonderful to their regular books…now wouldn’t that be a sight?

You can pick up Wednesday Comics #1 – 12 at your local comic book store – or if you’re having trouble tracking some of the issues down, you can find them on Amazon (some are already above cover price – so don’t delay). Also, below the jump you can see the writer and artist for each of the strips.

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Batgirl #2…blah.

September 20, 2009 in batgirl, batman!, comic reviews, comics | 9 comments

Batgirl #2. Brian Q. Miller. Comics/Graphic Novels.

So in all honesty I was feeling all “blah” about this before I even picked it up to read. And I previously said I was not going to read anymore once it was revealed that Stephanie Brown was the new Batgirl, but I picked it up anyway, I’m not sure why…half out of being bored…half out of curiosity I guess.

But here’s the problem, even if the issue was brilliant -which it isn’t – the issue itself is not particularly well written, it seems heavy handed, a bit whiny, and just incredibly dull. This is the story arc for issue number two of a major relaunch? YAWN.

However, the real problem is, I just don’t like Stephanie Brown.

I find her whiny and annoying, and really really blonde and really really white (which judging by this, DC has got WAY too much of going on right now). I also find her to be just totally unexceptional, which, when we come to The Bat Family, is something I expect…not only expect…but NEED in order to buy the suspension of disbelief that Bruce would sign off on letting teens and pre-teens suit up and fight crime beside him. You need to be exceptional in order to do that. The only thing exceptional about Stephanie to me is her unwillingness to go away, which unfortunately comes off to me as obnoxiousness rather than something endearing.

Also, the fact that Dick and Barbara are allowing this to go on (Barbara may be giving her a hard time, but that’s hardly stopping her) is disrespectful to Bruce. Bruce didn’t want her in that uniform. He shut it down. Have some respect for the man and Shut. It. Down.

Stephanie has no respect for the costume, for the symbol. Or for those who wore it before her (Cass possibly excepted since they were friends). Though she desperately wants to be part of the crowd, her wants are selfish and childish. She gets a high off of fighting crime and she does it almost casually. She’s not tormented by anything driving her to it, she’s just a really attractive blonde white girl going to college and putting on a costume at night for fun.

There is nothing interesting to me in this. That was my last issue.

I miss Cass

WTF Is Up With Rogue’s Costume?!

September 18, 2009 in boobs, catwoman, comics, misogynistic bullshit, rogue, x-men | 14 comments

From X-men Legacy Annual #1 – which promises a BOLD NEW DIRECTION!

Bold new direction my ass.

Looks like the same old misogynistic bullshit to me.

I mean, SERIOUSLY? I am so tired of this shit.

Just because a girl got some control of her borderline deadly skin touch, does not mean she’s all, “OH, YOU KNOW WHAT? I WILL SERIOUSLY UNZIP MY NEW OUTFIT TO SOMEWHERE BELOW MY BOOBS…FOR THE ENTIRE ISSUE!”

C’mon people, it’s shit like this that makes me wonder why the hell I’m still bothering with superhero comics.

Also, as I’ve discussed before in my Catwoman post this outfit is like physically impossible. I know comics require a certain suspension of disbelief, but this is the kind of crap that just pushes me over the edge – that zipper would have to be governed by otherworldy forces or some kind of magic to stay in that position for one panel, let alone the whole issue. The pressure of those massive boobs on a zipper? Just going to unzip the whole damn thing. Which is maybe the point, which is even MORE annoying. Also, there’s a difference between an outfit designed a bit low cut or showing some cleav, and one that the character actively CHOOSES to wear ZIPPED DOWN TO THEIR STOMACH. C’MON!!!!

Hey comic book artists! These are the kind of things that make people think you’ve never touched (or even seen?) real boobs. Get a freaking clue.

This crap keeps setting us back. Marvel, please take a note, are you ready? UR DOING IT WRONG.

Save Wonder Woman’s Reputation With A Postcard

September 16, 2009 in awesomeness, batgirl, comics, DC Comics, superheroes, wonder woman | 3 comments

Last week’s DC Nation page featured a Wonder Woman renumbering controversy that fans of Wonder Woman hold dear to their heart – the issue is this – Why the hell is the preeminent female superhero of the DC Universe currently on issue #45 while Superman and Batman are edging towards #700?

Wonder Woman, like her Justice League teammates has actually had just short of 600 issues, however her title has been relaunched so many times that she’s now “technically” only on issue #45 of her latest relaunch. And there’s been a campaign going on to get her the recognition she’s earned. Well the fan cries have been heard because last week Editor-In-Chief Dan Didio addressed the issue in DC Nation and gave fans an opportunity to actually make a difference: send in a postcard in favor of Wonder Woman getting renumbered to #600 and if they receive 600 postcards, it will be done.

Now, I hate blogging about Wonder Woman because I always feel a bit like a wolf in sheep’s clothing as I’m really not a true fan. I keep trying…I WANT to love her so badly. But no writer has been able to make it happen for me yet. So why should I bother blogging about this issue? Three reasons.

1. I think it’s great when DC (or any corporation) actively wants to listen to their fans – and truly gives them an opportunity to voice opposition or approval and affect change, as Dan Didio is doing with this postcard pledge.

2. I’m not a big fan of revamping and “relaunching” books in general, so I see this as a way to right those wrongs. Not that books don’t sometimes need an update, or when they’ve gone horribly wrong, don’t deserve (or yearn for) a fresh start, but I’m pretty against starting off with an “ALL NEW FIRST ISSUE!” every time things get tough. I understand that it gets people excited and likely sales briefly spike, I get it, but as a long time reader I’m not a fan. It makes being a reader (and a collector) a huge pain.

“You’re talking about issue #3 right? Oh, wait, which issue #3…would that be volume 1, volume 2, the super secret alternative arc volume 8? ARGH!”

And I do believe it’s some of that madness that freaks other “normal” people (i.e. non comics fans) out and away from comics. Comics are DAMN complicated. And they don’t have to be. Sure, relaunch a title with a new creative team…but you don’t have to call it “ALL NEW WONDER WOMAN ISSUE #1” and undo the last 200 or however many issues.

There are of course cases where relaunching a book with an all new #1 has worked and been a huge benefit, not just in sales but in content and direction, but in general I’m not a fan, especially when the character isn’t changing. For example, though I’m personally not a fan of the ALL NEW Batgirl #1 relaunch, it makes sense for that to be a new series in a way, because it’s a new character. Sure it’s still Batgirl, but it’s no longer Cass Cain (much to my chagrin) so I find that more palatable. But Wonder Woman, in all her incantations over the years, is still Diana. And she earned the hell out of that #600.

3. I’m a feminist. Whether Wondy and I have come to love each other or not, she still deserves the same recognition as her teammates. And I think it’s only fair to acknowledge that as a female superhero, she’s actually had a much harder time becoming a success than Superman and Batman, and yet she has prevailed and stood the test of time. She deserves the recognition of each one of those issues she struggled for.

Didio made a decent point in his argument that he thinks the #45 is less off putting to possible new fans than the #600, but I just don’t think it’s really that much less off putting. 45 issues is still nearly four years of issues – so it’s not like it’s issue #3 or something and you can just jump on board with zero drama.

Anyway, if you agree with me, or if you have your own reasons. Send a postcard in to Dan Didio at DC proclaiming that you want Wonder Woman to start renumbering at #600. My postcard is in the mail. See?

And…Batgirl

August 21, 2009 in batgirl, batman!, book reviews, books, comic reviews, comics | 4 comments

Well, they revealed Batgirl’s identity in the first issue, which is good. And I have to take back my bitching and moaning about the idea of trying to drag it out. Officially, thank you DC for not dragging it out. Unfortunately…

SPOILER

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Who Is The New Batgirl? And Is There Any Way I’m Not Gonna Be Pissed?

August 19, 2009 in art, artists, batgirl, books, comics | 5 comments

thanks to pasrimonia for the awesome ‘batgirl for batgirl’ poster image.

All signs point to the new Batgirl not being Cass. And the most recent hints suggest it is either Steph (The Spoiler) or a combination of two or three women (possibilities that seem to include : Cass, Steph, Babs, or Misfit) taking up the cowl together…which is an interesting idea, but I admit I’m not really on board, mostly because I just don’t understand why it’s not Cass straight up and with no ‘battle for the cowl’ bullshit.

I feel like the fans really love her and have long embraced her, but DC just somehow never has, and I don’t know why.

I guess the only thing I’m truly glad about is that it doesn’t LOOK like the plan is for it to be Barbara – which I would hate. There’s speculation that because of dropped hints that they wanted to bring her back as Batgirl and changed their minds. I would love if this was true, because it suggests that they do listen to fans (everyone loves Barbara, but almost nobody wants her back in the Batgirl uniform) or at least to themselves when they realize something isn’t right. The bottom line is that Barbara has so evolved beyond being just Batgirl. Barbara is so much more as Oracle and she can’t go backwards in time…which is what it would be for her to put on the Batgirl uniform again.

Anyway, let’s be all scientific like and look at the hints:

There were the three images released as Batgirl teasters, and each of them are basically different costumes, and thus suggests different women…which I guess is where we’re all getting idea that it will either be a team up of multiple women donning the cowl, or at least a battle to be the one and only.

The first (and my favorite of course) is pure Cass (although a bit heavy om the boobage).

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Review: 32 Stories: The Complete Optic Nerve Mini-Comics

August 18, 2009 in adrian tomine, art, artists, book reviews, books, comic reviews, comics | 3 comments

32 Stories: The Complete Optic Nerve Mini-Comics Box Set. Adrian Tomine (Writer/Artist). Comic Books/Graphic Novels.

I’m a huge fan of Adrian Tomine’s later works – Summer Blonde, Shortcomings, every New Yorker cover he does – but I largely missed out on his early Optic Nerve mini-comics, so I was delighted to see Drawn & Quarterly release this gorgeous box set of his original mini-comics (Optic Nerve #1 – # 7).

I dug into them this past week, and it was such a great experience, I doubt I can accurately explain how much I enjoyed it. Reading them seemed somehow both progressive and also like a total throwback to when comics used to really genuinely make me happy. It’s also great, as I’ve discussed before in relation to reading Alison Bechdel’sDykes To Watch Out For collected , to be able to see the evolution of a writer/artist in one sitting like that. Tomine’s drawing, inking, lettering, his very style evolves before your eyes and it’s a wonderful thing to behold – to see an evolution captured like that. Not that issue #7 is better than issue #1 – just different. There was a real rawness and almost sloppiness to the early issues that I loved. But it was amazing to see Tomine’s drawing slowly evolve more into the style that I’m familiar with today.

As I said there’s a real gritty and honest style to Tomine’s early work and when I realized that the first four issues of Optic Nerve were self-published by Tomine before he even graduated from high school I almost fell out of my chair. Even with the rawness of it, this is an incredible accomplishment and really underscores the talent Tomine possesses.

Some of my favorite stories in this collection are: Back Break in #2; Rodney in #3; Adrian Quits His Job in #3; All Choked Up in #4; Haircut in #5; Mike The Mod in #5; My Appearance On The Jane Pratt Show in #6; Leather Jacket in #6; Allergic in #6; Smoke in #6 (#6 was my favorite issue); and Happy Anniversary in #7.

I also really enjoyed the additions to the Box Set in the form of another book with an introduction and some special features including a handful of unpublished sketches and strips. The best of this to me was Tomine’s discussion in ‘A Note on this Edition’ of another writer/artist having gotten a copy of his high school yearbook years ago and posting his high school picture on a heavily trafficked web forum. Tomine talks honestly and frankly about how he felt about this (badly), how he dealt with it (badly) and how he feels about it today (not so badly – and to prove it that same high school photo is the cover of the introduction book). But it really gives you some perspective – that no matter how talented and amazing we are (I will never in my life come remotely close to touching the badass-ness that is Adrian Tomine) we are all vulnerable and sometimes vain…but that ‘this too shall pass’ is something that really is true, and if we can remember it and laugh it off, we’d all be better off.

4.0 Stars.

Darwyn Cooke’s The Hunter

August 14, 2009 in art, artists, books, comics, darwyn cooke | 2 comments

Man, I want to get my hands on this SO bad. No luck last night at the comic shop. Will keep trying. SO pretty.

Check out the 18 page preview on IDW.

Tell me that doesn’t make you sing deep down into your toes.

Superhero Catwoman or Pornstar Catwoman?*

August 14, 2009 in art, artists, catwoman, comics, wonder woman | 7 comments

A commenter mentioned the other day, that his favorite Catwoman cover was #74 by Adam Hughes. And I’m inclined to agree that it’s a beautiful cover – quite frankly you’d be hard pressed to find a cover of Hughes that isn’t stunning.

However, the primary reason Catwoman #74 did not make my list, is because of unnecessary boobage – which I’m sure you can imagine – I encountered a lot in my search – and by no means was Hughes the only offender. But what’s interesting about Catwoman #74 is that in my searches I came across an unpublished sketch version of the same cover – but without the excessive totally unnecessary pornstar cleavage.

As someone who is very well endowed myself (TMI!), I speak from personal experience that the last thing you want are those babies hanging out while you jump from rooftop to rooftop…not that I jump rooftops…but really anything remotely athletic? You want those babies zipped up and contained! So it’s just silly looking to me. And that zipper must have superpowers of its own to stay RIGHT THERE. The laws of physics do not apply to that zipper! Additionally, though Selina’s expression is gorgeous in both drawings, I much prefer the sketch version where her eye is on the safe behind the mirror (her true goal) and not on herself in the mirror apparently approving of how hot she looks.

If Hughes had executed the sketch version of this cover, I would likely have included it in my list, as it’s a great concept and Hughes pretty much always delivers on execution – but as the pornstar version is the one that found its way to our comic book stores, it just never had a chance on a list made by me.

But the real question is…was it Hughes choice to unzip the front of Selina’s costume…or was it DC’s suggestion…?

Also of note on the Adam Hughes front is that a surprising number of people have complained about no Hughes Wonder Woman covers being included in my list. I did have several I was considering, but in the end, though all beautiful, it’s the boob factor that inevitably got them booted from the list too. Officially, I don’t approve, and where better to make myself heard than here? That said, I feel confident that Adam Hughes is really well represented (perhaps too much) as he has four covers on this list already.

Also, I like Catwoman way more than Wonder Woman (I try to love WW, I really do, but she makes it SO hard).

Update: A reader sent me a copy of this even further developed sketch from this issue. I still love the way this looks and prefer it to the boobage one, however I think the expression here is less powerful.

*I guess, TECHNICALLY Catwoman is a villain, not a superhero, but we all know it’s more complicated than that…right?

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