Admonition by combat

Minor GABC #2 SPOILERS below:

I totally haven't changed my mind yet about Judd Winick (not after only two issues, I haven't), but I do have to admit that I'm loving Green Arrow and Black Canary so far.

I haven't figured out what the Amazons are up to yet, but its fun watching them try to sneak Green Arrow off Paradise Island before Black Canary (whom they've invited there to train their warriors) finds out. Of course, Ollie isn't any more of a damsel in distress than Dinah is, so he makes things difficult in his fun, Green Arrowy way. Just a really fun comic.

And I like the new Amazons. I didn't like the execution of Amazons Attack, but if the end result is some tough, deadly Amazons... well, at least something good came out of it.

Allison Cameron and the Harry Potter Whatsit

Okay, JJ, you've got my attention again.

Even though I'm too much of a nerd to completely ignore JJ Abrams' Star Trek movie, I lost a lot of interest in it once I realized that it would not, in fact, star Young William Shatner as James T. Kirk. Putting Dr. Cameron from House in it though -- regardless of whatever her role turns out to be -- has me excited to see it again.

Okay. Actually the Karl Urban news a while back did that already, but now I'm really excited.

Hm. Speaking of Urban and Dr. McCoy, Abrams has said that Jennifer Morrison won't be playing Yeomand Rand, but has Nurse Chapel been cast yet?

And if she is playing Nurse Chapel, is that a demotion?

James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing?

Does anyone have any real information (as opposed to speculation) about what this is? It just screams, "Hoax," (or maybe, "Fan fiction," at best) but it's a really well-designed one if it is.

Update: "Hoax" it is. (Thanks to my buddy Charles for the info.)

"I know exactly who I am."

So, Gail Simone's first issue of Wonder Woman came out yesterday, sort of. "Sort of," because last week was her All New Atom #17 which started a two-part Wonder Woman story. Meaning that people who really wanted to know how Gail was going to write Wonder Woman got to see a week early.

I know there are folks who don't care for the secret agent aspect of Wonder Woman's new status quo, but like I said before, I dig it. Thanks to Amazons Attack it hasn't been able to be exploited very well, but it's a great way to get Diana involved in some honest adventure rather than making the book focus on themes like her mission in Man's World or her identity as an Amazonian ambassador.

Fortunately, DC editorial's given Simone the room to play in both Atom and Wonder Woman and she's able to just have some fun without having to tie everything into Countdown or whatever. In Atom, which I don't usually read, Wonder Woman shows up looking for Giganta, who is apparently a supporting character in the series and dating the Atom. Diana tries to recruit the Atom to help her and he's uncertain about what to do. Mixed and hurt feelings follow and there's some good fighting, including one of the best uses of the golden lasso ever.

Plus, Simone manages to poke fun at Jodi Picoult's Wonder Woman run in a couple of panels.



Speaking of Picoult's run, Tom Spurgeon reviews both it and Wonder Woman #14 and feels generally the same way I do about both. He gives Picoult the benefit of the doubt by complaining that DC owes her an apology for burdening her run with Amazons Attack, but I remember those first horrible issues of hers before the crossover business started. She got Wonder Woman completely wrong, hence Simone's joke above.

Spurgeon likes Wonder Woman #14 for what it is: a standard comic book, but he seems to be looking for something deeper in it than I am. "Unfortunately, those (positive) aspects only pop out in terms of a comparison to the more ragged work in the (Picoult) collection combined with the reduced expectations that still seem to go hand-in-hand with the common, humble funnybook. Taken on its own, this is really no better than a standard, forgettable comic book..."

True enough, but Simone's not going for literature here and it's not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for Wonder Woman fighting gorillas and some shadowy spy intrigue, and that's exactly what Simone delivers.

Well, I'm also hoping that Simone gets Wonder Woman and, yes indeed, she does. "I know exactly who I am," Diana says. Perfect.

Also, Simone's funny. After Wonder Woman defeats the talking apes, she invites them home to live with her for what I hope will be an extended subplot with lots more scenes like this:



It may not be high art, but it's a beautiful start to what I expect will be a legendary run for the series.

I also bought Fantastic Four #551, continuing Dwayne McDuffie's very cool run on the series. Like Simone, McDuffie proves that you can tell fun, exciting stories without bogging down in angst and baggage from the latest company crossover. In this issue, Black Panther and Sub-Mariner from the future accompany future Doctor Doom back in time to try to convince the FF not to initiate a plan to make the world a better place. The FF's response creates an unbelievable cliff-hanger, but there are also some nice character moments along the way. Especially for the Invisible Woman, who's the reason I started checking out Fantastic Four.

My favorite moment is when Reed looks like he's once again about to forget how evil Doom really is and Sue has to remind him. I love her response. It's a mother's response and it's one of the things that makes her such a cool and unique character.

At first, I didn't care for her defense to Ben and Johnny about Reed's 100 Ideas. You know, his list of things like "Start Civil War" and "Clone Thor." I felt like she was at best letting Reed off the hook too easily, and at worst defending something that she'd previously expressed herself to be completely against. But then, thinking it through some more, I realized that she'd already started to soften a while back when Reed actually took the time to explain himself to her. Her biggest gripe with him wasn't that he was taking a moral stand that she didn't understand or agree with, but that he was keeping secrets from her. Once they cleared that air, that opened the door for their honeymoon on Titan and some healing to take place.

I still don't like that she takes his side in the scene, but I don't know her well enough to claim its out of character. Actually, from what I know about her, it's completely in character. Sue's too good for Reed and her sticking with him in spite of that is either her biggest strength or her biggest flaw, depending on your point of view.

Warrior Women Wednesday!

Today's illustration is another Victor Santos one. Sort of defines the term "warrior woman" doesn't it?

Victims, not warriors

I'm still doing a lot of catching up on blog reading, so some of these links are old. Like this one by Scipio about another problem with Perez's take on Wonder Woman. I'd never thought about it this way before, but he's absolutely right. "Instead of using the traditional version of Amazons (the one used by both the Ancients and Marston) -- buttkicking women warriors who founded a society that didn't need men -- Perez chose to make them victims." I've never really cared much for the modern version of Wonder Woman's Amazonian sisterhood and now I realize why. Scipio goes into much more detail in the link, so it's worth clicking through.

Whedon didn't get Wonder Woman

Speaking of fan favorite creators who really weren't the best thing to happen to Wonder Woman, I agree with this Joss Whedon fan who's pretty glad Whedon didn't end up making the Wonder Woman movie. I don't agree with everything she says, especially her dismissal of Steve Trevor as a potential sidekick, but her assessment of Whedon's vision for Wonder Woman is right on. "(I)f Joss was gonna present her as, 'She doesn't know how to be human and needs to learn how,' then he had it all wrong."

I also love the quote from Lynda Carter: "Wonder Woman is not impressed with herself. She doesn't think her abilities are a big deal. She does what she's capable of, and expects others to do the same." Now Lynda Carter gets Wonder Woman.

What Superheroine Are You?

Even as I was taking this quiz, I knew from my answers that I was going to be the White Queen. I'm not too sure about the telepathy, diamond-skin, and wealthy parts, but I am undeniably attractive and about as close to a Queen as straight guys are allowed to get.

What female superhero are you??? Emma Frost You sometimes vary between devious and good. You have the power of telepathy and turning into a diamond substance. Attractive, wealthy, and sometimes a teacher!

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Not Women in Refrigerators

Looking at the Justice League of Amazons last week got me curious about Big Barda and the others, so I went out and got the first couple of issues of Death of the New Gods. I knew Barda was killed in the first issue and that some folks were upset about it, but now that I've read the issues and the complaints, I don't know what the fuss is about. This is not a Women in Refrigerators moment.

First of all, it's not a story about Mister Miracle or how Barda's death affects him. It's a story about all the New Gods, male and female. Barda's death, as unsatisfying as it was to have it happen offscreen, is the exact same death that the other New Gods, males included, have been experiencing in Countdown and the other books setting up this storyline.

Secondly, Death of the New Gods is primarily a mystery story. The main plot is that the surviving New Gods are terrified at what's going on and have to figure out who's responsible. Not knowing the ending, I'm not sure, but I can easily imagine that showing Barda go down bravely in battle might give away aspects of the mystery that we're not meant to have yet. And that's putting aside the facts that none of the other victims had a chance to defend themselves and that that's likely an important piece of the puzzle. As much I like the idea of Big Barda being the exception to the rule, I don't know enough about where the story's going to demand it or be upset that it didn't go down that way.

More Justice League of Amazons

My list-making last week got me curious about more than just Barda, so when I was at the store I also picked up the last few issues of Justice Society of America (everything since "The Lightning Saga") and all the issues of Birds of Prey since Black Canary left the series (which is when I stopped reading it before). I want to catch up with Huntress and learn more about Power Girl and Barda.

Not to leave my Marvel league of Amazons out, I also grabbed the latest issue of Ms. Marvel and the first issue of Peter David's She-Hulk run. I think that's all I need to catch up on my Marvel list since most of those are ladies I'm already reading about.

Anyway, I could (and probably should) start another whole blog about this, but the plan is to sort of follow these characters for a while and comment on what becomes of them. Maybe dig into their past adventures a bit too, as well as seeing how they're represented in other media. I don't know; it sounds interesting to me now. I'll do it for a while and probably either spin it off into its own blog or get bored with it and give it up.

Comics and Writing Odds and Ends

Blogarama has a couple of previews of what promises to be a very cool comic called Aqua Leung. I'll be looking forward to that one.

Comic Book Resources has a good article on how the WGA strike will likely affect comics. Regardless of what some folks are saying, more Allan Heinberg or Serenity comics are a good thing.

Cory Doctorow has the right idea, I think, about copyright in the 21st century. Everything's changing and writers (and other artists) need to stop thinking like the Internet doesn't exist. He gives three reasons for this: one economic, one artistic, and (the most compelling one to me) one ethical.

"(T)he ethical reason is that the alternative is that we chide, criminalize, sue, damn our readers for doing what readers have always done, which is sharing books they love—only now they're doing it electronically. You know, there's no solution that arises from telling people to stop using computers in the way that computers were intended to be used. They're copying machines. So telling the audience for art, telling 70 million American file-sharers that they're all crooks, and none of them have the right to due process, none of them have the right to privacy, we need to wire-tap all of them, we need to shut down their network connections without notice in order to preserve the anti-copying business model: that's a deeply unethical position. It puts us in a world in which we are criminalizing average people for participating in their culture."

Happy Long John Silver Day!

Today's Robert Louis Stevenson's 157th birthday, which also makes it Jekyll and Hyde Day.

And it's also my dad's birthday, but he's considerably younger.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Judging Comic Books by Their Covers: Image -- January '08

So, which covers from Image's January crop make me want to open the books?

Cemetery Blues #1: The cartoony art is appealing, but what really grabs my interest are the misshapen little guy in front, the axe that the smoker's wielding, and the severe, ghostly gentleman in the back. I want to see what's going on with these characters.



Elephantmen #13: It's a text-heavy cover, but the noir, anthropomorphic hippo would make me check this out, even if I wasn't already a fan of the series.



The Infinite Horizon #2: These heavily designed covers don't usually grab me, but I love how the design here evokes tentacles coming up to grab the boat while the guy on deck calmly stands there, not sensing the danger. I want to see inside the book now to see if that's what it's about.



Jack Staff Special #1: Dark Horse had a couple of these last week, but here's another example of when a pin-up actually makes for an intriguing cover. Especially when it's of characters this diverse and interesting-looking. Jack Staff has a compelling look to him anyway, but the robot and the fantasy-ish guy with the sword have me really curious.



Mice Templar #3: Oeming's cover absolutely screams, "Pick me up! Open me!" First of all, the colors are stunningly beautiful, but what's that mysterious-looking mouse doing all hunched over on the rock by the pond? He looks like he's waiting for something, but what is it? And what's that flaming skull hanging from his tail?



Shark-Man #1: How has no one thought of making a superhero named Shark-Man before? This is one of those 30 Days of Night ideas where it's so obvious that you feel simultaneously overjoyed that someone came up with it and envious that it wasn't you. And that costume is perfect. I want to know more about this guy. Also, I want to explore the city in the background.



Captain Stoneheart and the Truth Fairy: Not just an anthropomorphic hippo, but a pirate anthropomorphic hero. Carrying a fairy.



Strange Girl, Volume 4: Golden Lights: Even if I didn't know what this series was about, I'd be intrigued by this cover. A demon and a young girl look on from above in the moments just before what looks to be a battle between an eclectic group of wanderers and some angels. There's the anticipation of action, but instead of just adventure, there's some emotional weight to it that I love. It's sad and solemn. Very nice.



The Astounding Wolf-Man, Volume 1: Yeah, pretty much just putting "Wolf-Man" on your cover is going to get me to check out your book. Interestingly, "Werewolf" wouldn't have had the same reaction.



Next week: DC's January covers, probably. Maybe their February ones too, since those'll probably also be out by then.

Michael May's Adventurestore

I've been in love with Amazon for a while now, so I figured I'd consummate the relationship by making them a part of the blog. I've got like ten different Wish Lists, but you can see one of them (the Horror one, since that's where my head is lately, thank you, Halloween) on the sidebar now.

There's also a link for something I just made that I'm calling the Adventurestore where you can buy the kind of stuff I talk about. Right now I've just got a few giant monster and giant robot graphic novels, but I'll be playing with it and adding to it constantly. I know I'll be adding categories for Jesse James vs. Machine Gun Kelly and Warrior Women. Too much fun.

Clank. Thump. Arr!

Kind of slow going in the giant monster/robot arena this week. But there were a couple of folks keeping things moving.

Google's got some new themes up for iGoogle pages. Guess which one I chose?



Giant Monsters Attack! created a nifty Kirby Giant Monster Generator.

And Harvey James combines two great concepts by drawing Giant Robot Pirates!

November Theatrical Releases

I don't know if it's me or the movies, but I'm really underwhelmed by the releases this month. Stuff that I'm supposed to be excited about just isn't doing it for me. I've decided that I'm not as in love with gangster films as the rest of the country, so American Gangster looks tedious. Bee Movie and Fred Claus look dumb. I can't get past the creepy motion-capture of Beowulf. And Martian Child, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium and Hitman look respectively like they're trying too hard to be touching, whimsical, and stylish.

But I did find some stuff to be interested in:

Last Week

Darfur Now: (LA/NY only) I can't honestly say that I'm looking forward to seeing this, and I don't even know that I will see it. I don't know that I want or need the images in my head. Hotel Rwanda was bad enough and there I could comfort myself with the knowledge that it was a re-enactment, whereas this...

But it's important. I don't need to see the documentary to know that and I've been doing what I can to help, but I'm glad there's a movie about the situation and hope that people who don't know what's going on will see it.

Today

I'll Believe You: (limited) Funny premise (late-night radio talk show host receives phone call from extraterrestrial and tries to find out who placed the call). Funny cast (Patrick Warburton, Fred Willard, Chris Elliot, Ed Helms from The Office). Funny trailer.

November 21

Enchanted: I've got pretty low expectations for this, but I'm curious enough to give it a watch.

August Rush: I'm so torn. On the one hand, it's Keri Russell and Freddie Highmore. On the other hand, it's Robin Williams trying to play Bono (which, to me, is sort of like Rob Schneider trying to play Gandhi in a serious role). I may wait for DVD on this one so if Williams kills it for me I can just eject the disc instead of having to walk out of the theater.

This Christmas: I'm a sucker for Christmas family dramas. I liked Home for the Holidays and The Family Stone too. What're ya gonna do?

November 28

The Savages: The plot about adult siblings trying to arrange long-term care for their mentally deteriorating father didn't do anything for me. Then I realized that one of the siblings is Philip Seymour Hoffman. And then I saw the trailer. Looks like good stuff.

November 30

Awake: This is what I'm in the mood for. A suspense thriller with Lena Olin, Hayden Christensen (I don't have the problems with his acting that most Star Wars fans claim to), Jessica Alba, and Terrence Howard in a role where he may not have to cry.

Movie and TV Stuff

Okay, I've got a lot of catching up to do today, so some of this is old.

Writers' Strike

I don't have a lot to say about the strike except that I support the writers, naturally. I'm getting most of my info about it from Mark Evanier, and though I'm concerned about some of my favorite shows -- especially this final season of Scrubs -- I'm totally into what the WGA is trying to achieve.

Superheroes

A while back I wondered if The Rock was going to play Captain Marvel or Black Adam in the upcoming Shazam! movie. It's Black Adam.

Spies

I agree with Jeff Parker. It's not fair that Britain gets James Bond stamps and we get Yoda.

Paramount is making a movie based on Matz and Luc Jacamon’s The Killer, which is unbelievably exciting to me.

Horror

Sweeny Todd trailer.

An Underworld prequel is coming together, but it doesn't have Kate Beckinsale in it, so do I care? Surprisingly, yes. Beckinsale's my main attraction to the other two movies, but Rhona Mitra has the right look to play a similar character. Does she have the acting ability though? Someone who watched/watches The Practice, Boston Legal, or Nip/Tuck will have to tell me.

Tony and Ridley Scott are adapting Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" into a modern-day, psychological thriller.

The second X-Files movie has a release date, assuming it's not affected by the strike: July 25 of next year.

I hate these kinds of articles. In talking about his role in the upcoming Wolf Man remake, Anthony Hopkins dismisses the original as "pretty corny." Everyone's entitled to an opinion, but there's a trend of actors trying to validate their current work by disrespecting what it's based on, whether that's the original version or the genre it's associated with or whatever. Josh Hartnett made some statements early on in the 30 Days of Night publicity campaign trying to downplay the horror aspects of the movie. Maybe I'm out of touch or just like corn or something, but of all the Universal monster movies, I think The Wolf Man holds up particularly well. The themes are strong, the performances are strong, and that's the best damn werewolf makeup ever.

I watched the original Cat People not too long ago and absolutely loved it. I'm buying it, in fact. I considered writing a review of it, but Will Pfeifer has done it for me. (Incidentally, he wrote a lot of horror movie reviews last month, which gives me some serious reading to do. Adding his blog to my reading list too.)

Science Fiction

Some stuff about Pixar's John Carter of Mars movie, including that it's the first of a planned trilogy.