I try my hardest to remove myself from my reviews on comics. Analysis works best with a sense of objectivity, especially when the object under review is laden with the creator's personal intimations, as comics often are. Most cinema is made with an attention to the collective viewing experience - and all of television too - but with comics, especially in creator-owned titles, there is only you, passively receiving what the author wants to tell you.
Autobio comics can amplify this effect, as direct reportage of the creator's life story, like heat-seeking empathy missiles that might hit close to home, or at the very least, dazzle you with their alienated force. In Rick Worley's collected A Waste of Time (graciously given to me by the fine guys at the NYCC Prism comics booth, thanks y'all) the diary-like webcomic of the same name re-formats the strip into an epistolary to all of Rick's twink groupies. But it's more than some San Fran gay's catalog of lovers. Its extra-wide presentation allows the four-panel strip to breathe, so that when the seamlessly-integrated full-page portraits make their appearance, it's as if you were flipping through Rick's actual sketchbook. To see the characters talk about the preparation for a sketch, followed by the sketch itself, you're struck with a feeling of veracity. Take the authenticity of Pekar's American Splendor, and blend it with classicist artcomix values, and you get an idea of the beauty behind Rick's book. He even goes so far as to invite all his readers so moved by his work to contact him and be his groupies. Literally fucking with your audience. It's genius.
Fan interaction has been present in comics since the days of the letters columns, but it's come to a head with the reprints of Matt Fraction's Casanova. So far the backmatter has regaled us with Matt's tales of drug addiction and recently, the psychological impact of an accident in his youth. The 2.5 volumes we've seen have always been a post-modernist backlog of Fraction's favorite comics-cultural references, but the most recent issue, Avaritia II, straight up features Fraction himself, interacting with fans at a con before his creation comes to shoot him down. Casanova Quinn's mission is to eradicate all instances of his arch-nemesis Newman Xeno across the multiverse, and wouldn't you know it, a surrogate for Matt himself falls on the hitlist. Newman recurs as a creative type in any universe, and Fraction uses this to explore some very personal insecurities involved in the creative process, whether or not they apply to him directly.
After probing their authors, both these works turn the bloody forceps on us, and ask to dig a little deeper. There's a bit in universe 9.999 (The Fraction/Xeno reality), where, realizing disappointment in an encounter with a fan, pseudo-Faction/pseudo-Newman despondently claims, "OH GREAT." "YOU'RE GONNA GO HOME AND BLOG ABOUT THIS OR WHATEVER". Which describes, too perfectly, my reaction last year to my meeting with series artist Gabriel Bá. This is precisely when comics are at their most beautiful. When the story gets all bug-eyed and sentimental and all you can mutter is "but...me too...". Whether you're inspiring your readers to draw nudes of their boyfriends, or bitching about how hard it can be to write stuff, those are the moments where the emotional investment pays off. Thank you Rick. Thank you Matt. Thank you comics.
Stormwatch #1, the first of DC's new 52 to feature LGBT characters (before the reboot, at least) is out to add a new cosmic dimension to the post-Flashpoint universe. There isn't much to be said for our beloved broship yet (though the last page shows a handshake between Apollo and Midnighter and promises a "Big Bang"), but the issue is a great gauge for whether or not you'll want to stick with the series to see the romance purportedly unfold.
X-Men First Class made a pretty strong case for consensual sexual tension between James McAvoy's Professor Xavier and Michael Fassenber's Magneto, but this deleted clip from EW's Inside movies blog let's you get into Angel's (among other fangirls') head by revealing Lt. Hicox in all his transvestite glory. The clip is pretty sparse, in that you don't get to see much besides what's captured in the screen grab, but the slash fiction crowd will be glad to have some bonus material to work with.
Tyler Clementi's suicide last year led to one of the most tumultuous times on campus I've seen during my tenure as a Rutgers student. It was a time of vigils and executive emails to the entire student body, it sparked debates among friends and lent momentum to the "It Gets Better" campaign. This is the landscape emulated in this week's Generation Hope #9, with the mutant-as-gay-allegory featured prominently, and in my opinion, with its most appropriate usage in recent memory. Though I haven't had any previous exposure to the Generation Hope series, there was never a doubt that the Gillen/McKelvie collaboration would handle the issue with delicacy and poise. What I didn't expect was the faithfulness in the recreation of those emotions I felt during the real-life tragedy, rendered with such raw power so as to elicit flashbacks to last September.
With DC's September initiative to publish their comics digitally on the same day as they're available in print just two months away, I felt it appropriate to have a look at their digital strategy as it stands now, before the big shakeup. What territory have they claimed with their mobile device delivery system, just over a year since it was first introduced? It seems they've made little headway in cornering the future of the comics market, actually, partially due to their partnership with Comixology, their digital publishers.
Alpha Flight's kicked off yet again, with its premiere issue as a Fear Itself tie-in. I've mostly enjoyed my new approach to this summer's blockbusters, catching up with the going-ons in the periphery without needing to know who's dead or responsible for the mayhem in the larger soap opera. On its own, the writing lags under the sheer weight of the team, as the narrative tries and technically succeeds in splitting up page-space among its eight characters. But I'd bought the title primarily to see how Northstar was handled. With the Fear Itself banner hampering my expectations, I'm glad to say that this 8 issue mini is off to a strong start, dedicated fairly to Northstar and his compatriots.
DC's reboot, which promises to be the singular news item from now til Comic-Con, gets about the fairest fan-response you'll find, courtesy of Klarion, yet the news release now subjects the comics internet to a slew of questions, some of which may actually be relevant to minority communities.
Based on BleedingCool's reportage, there will be a new Batgirl ongoing with Barbara reclaiming her old cowl and with returned usage of her legs. What this means for the Birds of Prey, sans Oracle, is yet to be properly spelled out, but it does mean DC is out on its only relevant disabled character. So much for its claims of diversity, eh?
None of the reboot details offer a suggestion of changes in ethnicity or other central character traits, so far making the changes applicable only to its character's ages. This explains Batgirl, and the additional Nightwing announcement, as being a reset to the status quo circa the early 90's (assuming Nightwing doesn't refer to the Krytponian variety of hero). I've come to love Dick in the Batman suit, and an interference with Morrison's Batman Incorporated story would just break me, so for now I'll restrain my keyboard rage in hopes that this reset aims to modify DC characters more wisely than I'd assume.
Elsewhere in the Batman family, this reboot could very well be the reason for Batwoman's delays, though it places the story in an odd position, setting up Kate to be hardly younger than Batman himself. Not to mention that there will now be a Batwoman operating at the same time as a (decidedly more headstrong than Stephanie Brown) Barbara Gordon Batgirl. Either way, a bat-catfight is more likely to be in order than the redheaded lesbian slash fiction undoubtedly floating in some fans' minds. I hold no expectations for this marketing opportunity to further ambiguate any characters' sexualities. I don't intend to make any militant, selfish claims that Character X should be gay, but this is as ripe an opportunity as ever to modify our heroes while maintaining their core traits. It's not too far a stretch to envision Guy Gardner as a burly bear, or to stop coding the pederasty found throughout the Batman lineage. And yet it appears DC will only utilize this as a chance for jumping on points (or, for the hilarious ragequitters on the web, a jumping off point). So, surprise me, DC. Don't tell me your characters are prepared for a new age when they still cling to yesterday's social mores. Cheers to change.
As the university calendar comes to a close, I can bid adieu to 10 page papers and mandatory reading assignments to focus on the literature I actually want to read. Marvel and DC both try to slap their names onto the summer reading lists every year with big, flashy events (sorry), and in past summers they've succeeded. But not this year. My summer of 2011 will not tolerate Fear Itself's hammer smashing, nor Flashpoint's elseworld encounters. The term 'event fatigue' gets tossed around the comics internet liberally, but even then, my decision has nothing to do with the longbox-filling slew of tie-ins, nor fanboy conservativism that fears changes to the status quo. Flashpoint boasts, "Today the World Changes", but looking at the 'changes' that Brightest Day brought out under Geoff Johns' orchestration, they amount to character reveals. Character Development is a great way to move a book forward; Loudly announcing you're going to include an underrated, underused character is a trope saved for the end of issue 1. I see Swamp Thing in a comic, and don't think twice about how he got there, I care for what he's going to do. Johns writes the coolest issue 8 of 8, but the stories leading up to its payoff are worthless on their own.
And if it turns out that Flashpoint exceeds my expectations, and isn't the glitzy showgirl it promises to be, Johns' goal-minded style is much more enjoyable in paperback format. You see the polar opposite of this in Fraction's writing for "Fear Itself", an event that's trying too subtly to tell you that it's big and interesting. Having read both issues of the main series printed thus far, I feel confident that I won't be waiting all night for the lightshow. Marvel has an understandable agenda at present to draw attention to Thor and Captain America, with the event acting as a gilded showcase. Somebody's mettle will be tested, Some sort of truism about the characters will be highlighted, girl loses hammer, The End. The Capitol dome gets bombed in the preview ad, yet the comic itself provides one page of the blitzkrieg (nonetheless drawn amazingly), and tons of pages of heroes staring at screens. It's a bold attempt by Fraction if he's trying to become the Brecht of comics, keeping the readers from feeling much of anything, but there's no joy to be had in superohero comics that way. The lack of bombast is a fresh twist at best, but it does little to ensnare a monthly reader.
So instead of 'too hot' and 'too cold', I'm going with the Grant Morrison slow-burn this summer, catching up on his earlier Batman material to gawk at how much of his planning has come to fruition, and wonder what he still has coming. His tales with the caped crusader have long-term goals, and each issue tends to move the story in small increments. These are stories with worthwhile payoffs, subtle changes not drowned out by all the surrounding noise - Elements that either of this summer's events wish to emulate. While Morrison's attempt at an event in Final Crisis was seen as abstract and muddled, the compendium of his work through Batman definitely has it merits that Johns and Fraction should take from. And when the back issues run out, which they won't, I'll find the biggest superhero stories of the summer at the movies, sad to say.
These days Stan Lee seems to be all about haphazard collaborations, in what appears to be a vie to complicate his own soon-to-be-survivors' inheritance. The freshest batch of headlines pits him with Arnold Schwarzenegger in development of "The Governator", which aims to skip that awkward media endearment phase and jump to being a full-on franchise, with a TV series already optioned for a movie. The series will feature a hardly-fictional retired governor who takes crime-fighting into his own hands with an array of gadgetry and teenage cohorts at his disposal. And the antagonists invented by the alliteration-enthusiast co-creator? An organization named Gangsters, Imposters, Racketeers, Liars & Irredeemable Ex-cons, or GIRLIE Men, for short. While there's nothing overtly homophobic in the Governor's infamous choice of words towards his political competitors, I'm definitely reading some inconsistency in the show's marketing. Is Arnold's square-jawed hyper-masculinity and lightcycle mockup supposed to be geared toward kids? That would partially justify that crapshoot of a trailer, but then why include an uncensored rendition of Black Eyed Peas' "Turn it Up"? (Oh yes they did) I suppose the show will do a fine job of crashing and burning on its own, but I'll be keeping my pickfork handy for the first mention of an enemybot with a broken wrist sprocket.
This blog's most hotly anticipated title of 2011 is going to need a little more... anticipating. Though Batwoman's release had already been pushed back this January for an April solicitation, DC has advised retailers that the series has been canceled for re-solicitation. Though the situation has drawn criticism across the net from fans, one could imagine DC's frustration, having printed issue one's preview pages in the backs of its books released this very week, sporting the April release date. If JH Williams III needs time to perfect his stellar artwork, then this is no reason to get fanboys (and Kate's relatively huge legion of fangirls) all riled up. My primary grievance comes from the fact that we've been waiting forever, it seems, to get this character into the spotlight. For a five-year old character, Kate's gone, essentially, nowhere. This was the lesbian hyped up at cons as DC's highest-profile gay character, yet she's only made about two dozen appearances in canonically-significant issues. We're being sold short on a woman who was supposed to mean so much more; And so it's crucial that the Batwoman series is well-written, that it can build a buffer to keep the readers it should one day attract, whenever it finally does come out. Given DC's expanding catalog of forgotten female characters, it's crucial to LGBT representation that Batwoman gets the outlet she deserves, and a title on an inconsistent schedule wouldn't speak much for her respectability.
While the emphasis of our features here at PinkKryptonite are your favorite gay characters and authors, it's important to consider now and then, between all the gratuitous beefcake that our beloved medium provides, what comics do for minority voices in general. After all, Equality fails as a notion if it can't be extended to everyone. Rick Remender and Tony Moore's upcoming Venom series will feature Flash Thompson as the symbiote's new host, an amputee veteran who's lost both his legs. This week's Amazing Spider-Man 654.1 effectively served as a Venom 0 issue, and while Dan Slott's script will doubtlessly vary from Remender's upcoming portrayal, the comic provided two moments that will have piqued the interests of anti-ableists.
It's become a trope within hero comics to disable superheroes (lookin' at you, Hawkeye!). You can't blame the writers; Disabling a metahuman makes the danger real, it brings them down to a mortal level. Flash's situation is the polar opposite. As much as superheroism is already a practice in wish-fulfillment, Flash's usage of the Venom parasite restores the legs he had, on top of making him a military killing machine. He's the feeble Steve Rodgers turned ubermensch. Though a fair treatment of his disability shouldn't instill any sense of inadequacy in the character's private life, this is precisely the scenario we get in the Thompson home between missions. Flash attempts to lift himself from his chair to comfort his crying girlfriend, crashing to the floor and chalking up the mistake to mere forgetfulness. Forgetting about trauma and recovery? Readers can understand this as his acclimation to the Venom suit, but you'd expect Betty to show a bit more concern for his lapse. Slott may have intended this to show that Flash feels no different for his loss, but I felt the dismissal here was too casual to keep within reason.
Then during his second mission, the completely nonthreatening Flagsmasher staves off Venom with some oddly-placed bombs that blow away Flash's legs. Though Venom is capable of regeneration, the incident reasonably ignites a breakdown in the man under the armor, causing killer-ops Venom to go full-blown slack-jacked drool-monkey Venom and we're told (rather than shown) that the symbiote tears shit up (I'm curious to find out if sound-effects had to cover up the sites of carnage because the title has an "A" rating, or if Ramos was incapable of drawing jaw-meets-arm interaction acceptably). Dubious art aside, this is the aspect of Venom I'm itching to read about. Not a man fearful of living with a disability, but coping with traumatic stress at home while he continues to wreak havoc under US armor, less as penance and more as a continuation of duty. We're in able hands with Rick, and I'm thankful for this issue's delineation of what I want from the upcoming series. Venom #1 hits racks March 2nd.
I remember the original Assassin's Creed game only as a simulator for jumping into haystacks between moments of immersive storytelling. While the gameplay was underwhelmingly formulaic, I was constantly digging through all the auxiliary plot points; Things like the needless emails and the branched dialogue composed this theme of genetic memory and a centuries-long power struggle between two ancient organizations, and it had me hooked. I wasn't quite interested enough to plop down the cash for the game's sequels, but I knew I'd be buying the comic spin-off the second I heard of it. What I found was that Assassin's Creed: The Fall was more than just a cheap spin-off money grab. Not only is the story a powerful entry in the AC series, but the careful design of the comic was capable of playing with the bilateral symmetry of comics rather uniquely, without resorting to knockoff Watchmen tactics.
Review: Frankenstein, Agent Of S.H.A.D.E #1 - #6
Jeff Lemire and Alberto Ponticelli have given us a gift and there is no way for us to repay them with sufficient thanks. It really is that simple. No, it's even simpler than that: DC could reboot the whole damned universe every year like clockwork and it would be worth it if it gave us something as good as Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. every time. This book is almost everything I want comics to be and there is no other medium in which this story would work as well....
