Black Canary in 1.078 Seconds

After getting Tony Bedard wrong, I'm going to try to wait another issue before forming an opinion about Green Arrow and Black Canary's new writer Andrew Kreisberg. But so far, I'm a little concerned.

Kreisberg's entire first issue takes place in an alley as Green Arrow fires at a punk bad guy (named Dregz... sigh) who has a knife to Black Canary's throat. In that second of time, Green Arrow relives the last few days (catching us up on what's happened since last issue and establishing the new status quo for the series).



I was worried at first that this was going to be all about Green Arrow's having to rescue Black Canary, but thankfully, Kreisberg avoids that. I still don't get how Dregz ever got the drop on Canary in the first place though. She's supposed to be a way better fighter than that and leaving the scene off-panel with an explanation that the bum just "got lucky" is lame. Especially since so much at the end hinges on her not being able to use her fighting skill to stop this guy. Why couldn't she? Why does she have to resort to what she does? We're not told.

I also don't get why she and Green Arrow just walk away at the end, leaving Dregz (presumably unconscious, but we're never shown) in the alley. And I'm not sure how to interpret that last page, but if it's what I think it is, then Black Canary has just used her powers in a completely irresponsible way and caused irreparable harm to an (as far as we know) innocent person. I'm assuming there will be consequences and that that's where Kreisberg's going with the story, but I'm not liking what it says about Canary.



First she's captured by a "lucky" street punk; then she carelessly ruins someone's life and walks off from a crime scene with the criminal free? Something's very wrong here and I hope it's not the writer.

Black Canary, Hard-Traveling Heroine

Tony Bedard wins.



In my defense, I said in my review of Birds of Prey #124 that I don't know Bedard's work very well. Because of that though, I didn't give him the benefit of the doubt about some questions I had from reading that issue, and I should have. Turns out he had it all covered.

All that posturing and gloating from Barbara Gordon? Totally faked.



Which also explains why Barbara wanted to close up shop and move, and why she needed her best friend Black Canary around for the next phase of the mission.

So, not that he reads my blog or anything, but I'm sorry, Tony. This issue rules and retroactively makes the last one pretty much rule too.



Barbara and Canary's relationship feels like it did during Gail Simone's time as writer and that's another huge compliment. Also? The plot about the villanious Caretaker's keeping a whole village of people trapped in a basement with a glass ceiling that he can look down through as he controls their destinies is almost as awesome as the sequence in which the Birds break them out.

A Merry Wonder Woman Christmas

Illustration by Kyle Baker.

I read the description of this home-made Wonder Woman ornament before I saw the picture and expected to see something really tacky. "Cut out from a comic book, then glued on cardstock, then glittered her hair." Cheap, huh?

Then I looked at the picture.



Nice job, Charlie ANO!

Mary Marvel's Leave of Absence

And another thing about Mary Marvel...

According to what I can piece together from interviews, the whole Darkening-of-Mary-Marvel thing was an idea that Grant Morrison had for Final Crisis. She was always going to be possessed by one of the evil New Gods as they ushered in the Fifth World. If "New Gods" and "Fifth World" make your eyes glaze over, don't worry. They do mine too. But that's not important.

Where I'm going with this is that DC - wanting to build excitement for Final Crisis - decided to tell the story of Mary's possession in their weekly Countdown to Final Crisis series. Only they apparently neglected to talk to Morrison at all about his plans, because in Countdown Mary's not possessed by an evil being, but is "seduced" to darkness by a combination of Eclipso, Darkseid, and Black Adam's powers. And the reason she's got Black Adam's powers is because hers mysteriously disappeared and she couldn't bear to be without any.

And where I'm going with that is that this wasn't the first time Mary had lost her powers. Only before, she handled it a lot better.



That's right. The real Mary Marvel didn't go begging for new powers from any supervillain who'd give them to her, she put on a costume and decided to go crime-fighting anyway. The Fortress Keeper has the whole story.

The Twelve Songs of Christmas: It's Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)

"It's Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)" by U2

Six days till Christmas.

TCM Remembers

One of my favorite - though in a bittersweet way - parts of the Oscars is the memorial they always do for filmmakers who've passed away the previous year. I didn't know Turner Classic Movies did one too, so thanks to Will Pfeifer for pointing it out.

Motorcycle Frankenstein vs. Event Fatigue

Event Fatigue. I has it.

I was bored by Secret Invasion, I'm barely mustering interest in Dark Reign, and Final Crisis seems to be going nowhere. The major drive for my reading Final Crisis was to see the redemption of Mary Marvel and now I don't even think that's going to happen in this mini-series. If at all.

The promised fight between Mary and Supergirl finally begins in Final Crisis #5, but our attention is quickly forced elsewhere. Presumably, we'll see the fight continue two months from now (or whenever Final Crisis #6 is finally released). That's if Morrison doesn't go all Millar and Bendis and decide that it happened off-panel. I don't think he will, but my confidence in these things is pretty much done.

Like Secret Invasion, Final Crisis doesn't seem particularly eager to move its story forward. Wonder Woman and Mary Marvel, my two reasons for wanting to read this series are still under the control of Darkseid, right where they've been for the last few issues. Nothing particularly important happens at all, and in a book where the entire draw is the supposed changes its making on the DC Universe, that's pretty sad.

One thing keeps the issue from being a complete waste of paper, ink, and time, but it's a pretty significant thing.



Frankenstein leading the DC heroes into battle on a motorcycle. For that, at least, we can be grateful.

Nations all over the damn world

Action Girl Pulp of the Day



By Arnold Kohn.

Lost Women

Season Five cast photos have been released. You can see the guys too over at Grant Gould's LJ.






Oops!

Kalinara picked up on something I totally missed when I mentioned the casting for the live-action Avatar movie. The Avatar heroes aren't white.

The Evolution of Women in Fantasy Movies



AMC has a brief survey of the role of women as they've appeared in fantasy films, starting with Jason and the Argonauts and moving towards Stardust. It's not a deep article, but their choices of representative films are interesting.

Whiteout

CBR has a couple of new stills from Kate Beckinsale's Antarctic murder mystery, Whiteout. You gotta scroll past the Watchmen ones to get to them though.

The Twelve Songs of Christmas: Baby, It's Cold Outside

"Baby, It's Cold Outside" by Selma Blair and Rainn Wilson

Seven days till Christmas.

A Merry Blink Twice Christmas

Today totally got away from me, so I'm going to post this awesome Christmas card I got from the Blink Twice boys and be done. I'll try to do some catching up tomorrow.



Merry Christmas to you too, Robin and Lawrence! Thanks!

The Twelve Songs of Christmas: Christmas Day

"Christmas Day" by Dido.

It kinda ticks me off that I couldn't find an actual music video for this song because I love it and the story it tells and it deserves a real video. But if I can't have that, I'll take Doctor Who.

Eight days till Christmas.