Articles by Sgt. Sausagepants
Rice Boy is the story of a small, white, armless boy who has been charged with a quest. Simple enough. Rice Boy's journey takes him across, over, and under his strange and fascinating world. He also meets an amazing assortment of friends, enemies, and others.
I came across this comic just after 1am and could not stop reading until I had finished the entire story. And it IS a complete story, told by creator Evan Dahm over the course of two years. He just finished, and the ending is extremely satisfying.
This one is special people. You owe it to yourselves to check it out.
This one kind of pisses me off, but I have a feeling they'll will realize what they've done quickly enough and make things right.
Thomas Denton of comic blog Say It Backwards has a nephew who was diagnosed with cancer. A charity called Candlelighters helped his family out. Thomas decided to use his connections in the comics world to organize some charitable auctions featuring original artwork by various artists to give something back to the organization. Apparently Time Warner (who own DC comics, who in turn own Superman, Batman and most of the cool superheroes who wear capes) objected to the selling of the pieces featuring their copyrighted and trademarked characters on eBay, specifically Superman from what I understand.
In a situation like this the company should step up and help, or at least approve the auction. My gut tells me this was pretty much just from the legal dept. and people higher up will notice and step in.
Warner/DC comics shuts down children's cancer charity auction over trademark [Boing Boing]
This weeks character hails from the pages of Gen¹³, from Wildstorm. Sarah Rainmaker, also simply known as Rainmaker, can control the weather and use wind to fly, not unlike the X-Men's Storm.
Rainmaker was originally declared a lesbian, but after some controversy, (and a drunken make-out session with a male teammate), she is now a bisexual. She also exhibits very little shame about her body, not batting an eye at swimming nude in front of her male teammates.
When not fighting the good fight as a superhero, Rainmaker attends protests and likes to lecture her team when they don't live up to her standards. She often attempts more peaceful resolution to conflicts before resorting to violent solutions, on at least one occasion earning the respect of rival team DV8.
Our readers who live in or near New York take note, a special exhibit at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art on super-heroic style and it's effect on fashion has just started.
Each hero or heroine is used to represent a different body archetype. The character and their costume are featured in the display, counterpointed with the examples of fashion inspired by the character and their look.
These exhibits include original costumes from various films and TV shows featuring these heroes over the years, and the lobby contains this stunning statue of the the big three themselves, worthy of placement in front of any Hall of Justice.
You can check out more images and a full write-up over at Newsarama, and you can see the exhibit at the met until Sept. 1st.
This week we take a look at one of the Young Heroes in Love... Off-Ramp.
The character Off-Ramp first appeared in a DC House promotional ad that listed all the heroes as well as who they loved. For Off-Ramp, his caption simply said "You don't want to know what Off-Ramp loves..." which began the mystery of just what exactly Off-Ramp loved that was so different from everyone else. At first readers were led to believe it was his car, however, it turned out to be something else.
Later in the series, it is revealed he is attracted to teammate Frostbite, who was unveiled as a bisexual. The series ended shortly thereafter, but in the 1,000,000 issue (as part of the DC One Million crossover event) it is revealed that at some point in the future, he and Frostbite lived together for several years before separating.
Off-Ramps powers were that of transportation. He could create rifts that allow himself and others (including his car) to travel just about anywhere. He often used them to visit his son in Italy, and his son's mother, Samira. (implying that he is either bisexual himself, or at the very least had a straight relationship before coming to terms with being gay) He apparently had a good relationship with her often visited his son, whom he loved very much.
Bee Power is a long-standing comic originally know as Droop, created by KC Green. Why it's changed to Bee Power I am unsure, but it fits the random nature of the comic. Despite the randomness, it is very often funny and interesting, although often very mature (this is not for work browsing, in many cases). It often reminds of Jhonen Vaquez's work in Squee. If you don't mind the occasional swear, sex joke, or bit of gore, check it out!
[Edit: added link to Bee Power]
This week we look at not a hero or villain, but the father of a hero. A man who wasn't exactly heroic himself.
Arnold Astrovik, the father of mutant superhero Justice, (Vance Astrovik, formerly Marvel Boy), couldn't accept that his son was becoming a "freak" when his mutant powers developed. He began to physically abuse his son, (the hitting kind, not the pedophile kind), and his son eventually lashed out with his emerging powers and accidentally killed his father.
This wasn't the end of Arnold's story however. When the Sphinx sent members of the New Warriors back in time to various points in history, Vance discovered that as a young man, Arnold was a homosexual, in love with a man named Bradley. Not only that, he was being bullied and abused by his own father into fitting into the heterosexual norm of the time. Vance saw clearly the cycle of abuse and fear that was perpetuated down his family line, and attempted to encourage Arnold to follow his heart, but failed. Arnold suppressed his true self and started a heterosexual life. Sad, isn't it.
The story outing Arnold appearing in New Warriors #48.
Since we did her ex last week, this week we take a look at one of DC's newest gay heroes, The Question.
In some ways, Renee Montoya (now known as The Question) is similar to Harley Quinn. Both characters were created specifically for the Batman Animated Series. However, Renee was introduced into the DC comics universe before the series aired, intentionally. (Harley got her spot in official canon due to her overwhelming popularity).
Renee spent many years as a detective with the Gotham Police, until she lost her partner in an investigation of a crooked cop named Corrigan. She attempts to kill him in revenge, but finds she cannot pull the trigger. In disgust she quits the GCPD and becomes an alchoholic, obsessing over the loss of her partner and her girlfriend, Kate Kane.
Renee is next seen as one of the primary characters of the groundbreaking weekly series 52, following the (now) former Question, Vic Sage, across the world to uncover a plot by Intergang. Eventually she finds out Vic is in fact dying, and attempts to save him. She fails, but not before he reveals to her that she is supposed to carry on his legacy. After some time in grief and some internal turmoil, she comes to terms with this and takes up the faceless mask, returning to Gotham City in time to save her ex-lover from being sacrificed by a cult.
Currently, she is still fighting crime as the Question, and most recently appeared in the Crime Bible miniseries.
I just recently discovered Slackerz, but I am extremely glad I did. This webcomic has a relatively minimalist style but snappy writing. The usual topics are video games or pop culture, with occasional randomness. Each strip (page?) usually drips with sarcasm and intelligent humor. I recommend going through the archives, but my two immediete favorites are here and here.
You can see the full write-up on the game itself over at GayGamer, but I wanted Pink Kryptonite Readers to take special note of the following bit from the unveiling of the new Spider-Man: Web of Shadows.
Still, you might be able to get some inside info if you're lucky enough to be at the New York Comic-Con this week. At Activision's booth, the company will be holding voiceover auditions for the title. Videos of the performances will be posted on the Spider-Man: Web of Shadow's website where the community will vote for who they want in the game.
So if you are going to NY Comic-Con, and think you have a good voice, try it out (and let us know).
We've already gotten a look at the new Watchmen costume designs already, but I still held out hope that it was just a trick of perspective that made Nite Owl look so thin. This confirms it, however.
EW.com got an exclusive look at these two figures, set for release in 2009. It's bothering me a little bit. For those not familiar with Watchmen, (and if you aren't, go buy it right now), Nite Owl is supposed to be a middle aged, slightly overweight man. A crimefighter in retirement and past his prime. Apparently they decided to sexy him up a bit for the movie. My only hope is that this is the 'young' Nite Owl from a flashback or something, but that seems like a slim chance.
First Look: 'Watchmen' Action Figures [EW.com]
With Countdown coming to some sort of conclusion, we take a look at a character re-introduced last year in the weekly series 52.
Kathy Kane, aka Batwoman, was originally created in 1956 to combat the growing tide of critics who claimed Batman and Robin were homosexual propaganda. She was created to be a love interest for Batman, thereby dispelling rumors that Batman was rogering Robin, as it were. (Making her current status as a lesbian somewhat ironic)
Batwoman pretty much disappeared from DC comics, however, in 1964 when DC revamped the series in a more serious direction, and only made guest appearances until the crisis when she was basically written out of the DC Universe.
Now she's back however, as a jewish lesbian and former lover of the current Question, Renee Montoya. She began fighting crime after the Infinite Crisis and has since appeared in Countdown, the Infinite Holiday Special, and the Crime Bible miniseries.
"Oh Lois, you SO don't want to know!"
Comic of the Week
Frater Mine by Sean McGrath and Juan Romera
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