Pretty, Fizzy Paradise

A Thought.

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 07:46:00 +0000

You know what I'd really like to see now that Toro is back from the dead?

I want to see Cyclops ask for his autograph.

I mean, seriously, Xavier would have totally milked that inspirational story: one of, if not the first, publicly recognized mutants. Respected. War hero. Very destructive power, but found direction through serving his country.

It seems like the kind of story Scott would totally take to. And it'd be nice to see a) Toro get some recognition for once, and b) Scott get to be age-appropriate for once and fanboy a little.

It'd be cute!

Guy Gardner: Still Awesomer than Hal Jordan

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 04:38:00 +0000

I kind of had my doubts about the whole Guy-as-a-red-lantern thing, but...was there anything more badassly awesome than seeing him carve through those Black Lanterns with red AND green constructs?

Guy Gardner remains awesome, even when working his christmas colors. Booyeah!

The Long-Threatened Amateur Analysis of Scott Summers's Girlfriends

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Okay, so I've been intending to post this for a while: it's my rambling diatribe on how with every major love interest he has, Scott Summers is essentially dating stand-ins for his abusive (or at least lousy) father figures. This post can also be subtitled reason number #467 why Xavier should have realized his adopted son/pet general needed therapy for a long ass time.

So anyway, for the benefit of the less obsessed comic nerds in the community (is there a such thing), I'll do a quick run down of poor Cyclops's history. First, he had parents and a brother. Then there was a plane crash. Parents got kidnapped by aliens. Kids went splat, and essentially Alex bounced and Scott didn't.

After that, Alex gets adopted and Scott gets sent to an orphanage run by Mr. Sinister. It should probably be noted that orphanages of that type haven't been in vogue since the seventies. But Mr. Sinister is a batshit crazy Victorian telepath, so I'm thinking he doesn't care. So yeah, there's messiness involving brainwashing, torture, abuse, experimentation and at least one set of would-be adopted parents going splat on the side of a mountain. Eventually, sometime after having a weird dream involving a bald guy and a pretty red haired girl with a firebird motif, in which the bald guy is all "Hmm, nah, we'll collect him later", he runs away.

P.S. This is another reason Xavier sucks.

So anyway, he roams around the streets of Omaha (Nebraska has streets! News to me!) and hitches some trains and the like and eventually the powers kick in. This is awkward, and generally results in an angry mob. Fortunately, and by "fortunately" I mean "unfortunately", since this is Scott Summers we're talking about, he ends up getting taken in by a low life criminal, who is also telepathic by the way with a few extra powers (more on that later) named Jack Winters. A number of beatings and forced criminal endeavors later (which vary depending on the particular take on this part of his origin story), Jack ends up dead, and Xavier gets himself an abused teenager who he raises up to be his general.

Xavier is a dick.

So anyway, this totals to at least three telepathic father figures of debatable morality. And by "debatable", I mean "utter jerkasses." And I'm totally including Xavier in there. Dick.

Okay, so the first and most easily correlating girlfriend is totally Grant Morrison's fault. You see, Jack Winters, low life thug that he is, has a number of notable traits. 1) a last name related to the season directly opposite "summer". (Winters). 2) A code name related to a game. (Jack O'Diamonds). 3) Telepathy. 4) Additional powers including an "unbreakable diamond form."

And who's he dating now? A lovely upper crust lady who happens to have 1) a last name related to the season directly opposite "summer". (Frost). 2) A code name related to a game. (White Queen). 3) Telepathy. 4) An "unbreakable diamond form."

It's a bit awkward. And that's not even counting that the debatably healthiest portrayal of the Emma/Scott relationship involved her (granted under influence) basically spiking his brain like a volleyball and him THANKING her for it later. I'm just saying.

Sadly, I still think the Emma/Scott relationship is the healthier alternative to Scott and Jean.

-
And speak of the devil, we'll move on to scary correlation number two. It's not as overt as Emma and Jack, but let's be frank, Xavier has always been a creepy spectre within the Scott-and-Jean relationship since the very beginning (where he mooned over her himself, then decided to try to push Scott into admitting his own feelings.) And then there was all the times he lied to the team and faked impairment or even death to push them further. That latter, he'd roped poor Jean into lying to others for him.

Of course, I'm not equating Jean to Xavier in morals. Jean is not actually a dick. Even if a future version of her totally mind-whammied her husband into a relationship with Emma Frost after her death. (I know some folks see it as "encouragement" but when you look at how the scene from NXM 151 goes from this:page 1, page 2, to THIS in 154: page 1, page 2... Well, honestly, I'm not sure it's not the weirdest case of spousal rape-by-proxy-for-his-own-good-and-the-future I've ever seen. At the very least, she definitely overwrote his will and that's pretty dickish.)

But anyway, Jean, like Xavier, has a tendency, I think, to make "for your own good" type judgments. Granted, unlike Xavier, she seems to be right more often. But this is a post about the similarities, not the differences.

Beyond that, there are circumstantial ties: he only met Jean THROUGH Xavier and the team. She's always been kind of symbolic for him, in the same way that Xavier and the dream are.

(For the record, they're still my favorite X-couple. But they're kind of fucked up, regardless. When she inevitably comes back to life/ages up properly and yoinks back her husband, I suggest couples' counseling.)
-

The next one is even more of a stretch, but considering that he MADE her, I think equating Madelyne Pryor and Mr. Sinister is not completely unfair. (Which is why I tend to give Scott a pass for most of the Madelyne related dickishness. I mean, when the guy who raises you, clones the love of your life, and basically MAKES her specifically to appeal to you - including making her a PILOT, yeesh, you don't really have a prayer, even if you aren't completely fucked in the head.)
There may be an interesting comparison to make with Essex's transformation to Mr. Sinister and Madelyne's to the Goblin Queen, too, but the first part's probably enough alone.
-

Of course, there's a special exception for the only girlfriend/relationship Scott's ever had that could even remotely be classified as healthy. Lee Forrester, the shrimp boat captain. A relatively low pressure, low complication relationship with a woman who isn't even a telepath!

But I'm never one to drop a metaphor even when it doesn't really fit anymore. So I've decided shrimp-boat captain = space pirate. They both tend to be largely unconnected to the drama of the X-Men Universe (discounting the part where Corsair's currently dead, as far as I know, but he's a Summers. They'll fix that eventually. If they haven't already.) And really, Scott would be much happier/healthier if he just ran away to become a shrimp fisherman again. Or a space pirate (didn't Alex Summers visit a universe like that at some point?).

So yeah, basically the entire point of this post is to show that if you really want to sleep with Scott Summers, you apparently need to parallel one of his father figures. Or retcon/time travel a new one in. Or you know. Get the guy some actual, legitimate, psychiatric help. But how likely is THAT to happen?

The last of my non-comic rambling

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:01:00 +0000

Getting back in the swing of things is a bit harder than it looks. :-) But I'm working on it. I've got a plane to catch today, and said goodbye to some friends yesterday (We also watched the first Lexx movie. I love Lexx for all it's crazy Canadian-German weirdness. It says some interesting things about apathy and stagnancy and drive. And also, the gender dynamics are probably worth some analysis too.)

It's funny to think that I have one semester left. I'm trying not to panic about that (beyond a purely justified "Oh my god, I have to send resumes out ASAP!!!") and being marginally successful about that.

I'm about half a year away from the bar exam (scary enough) and real actual life. (MUCH scarier.) Not counting the year I spent studying abroad, and the year I was working at the toy store, I've been in college for SEVEN YEARS. That's...an obscenely long time.

On the plus side, I'm finally in a position to just sit back and relax with my beautiful comic books. <3 And maybe even write a recap or two! (I'm what three months overdue? Eek.) Or a meme. Or maybe an actual analysis post.

Or at least that post I keep threatening to do about how Scott Summers keeps dating stand-ins for his abusive father figures. They track pretty impressively! And given that he's got another origins coming out in January, I'm sure they'll find a way to shove more trauma in there. Maybe they can add a ninja assassin type foster father so the boy can finally date Psylocke. Or Wolverine'll show up. Wolverine shows up everywhere!

Oh, for the record, I passed my MPREs with a 103. That makes me officially 3 points more ethical than the average lawyer, I guess? I dunno. But it's high enough for Michigan and New York, so I'm happy.

So how are you? :-)

Hi!

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:05:00 +0000

I lived! Again! I don't intend to repeat THAT experience. (So, um, let's hope I passed, yeah? :-P)

Anyway, it's time for me to catch up on all the awesomeness I've missed. For example, that Marvel all-women anthology looks pretty interesting. Though I don't have THAT much to say about it yet. The talent line-up looks pretty neat. I don't know if any of my favorite characters will be involved, but I'll pick it up anyway. :-)

It's nice to be able to comment on nice things. :-)

I'm still on JSA-AS induced excitement, of course. Hey, I waited like five years, I'm allowed to drag out my elation for a few weeks damnit.

Now I'm off to clean the dorm room and go home for a few weeks. Where I'll be writing my paper. Damnit. :-P

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:11:00 +0000

Things that suck: when your computer dies halfway though compiling your final outline for your Constitutional Law exam today.

Thank god I have a back up computer. But it still took me ALL NIGHT to redo the work.

On the plus side, I'm quite a bit more familiar with the material now.

But anyway, my exam is in four hours or so. Not enough time to sleep, unfortunately, but I have all day tomorrow to crash. <3

Anyway, wish me luck!

Okay, I take it back

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 04:19:00 +0000

I know I was very critical about Freddie Williams's art in JSA All-Stars #1, but I think I have to apologize, because this is awesome:

Please keep drawing pretty cover images of my favorite character! Thank you!

And The Source gives me more reason to creepily declare my love for Matthew Sturges:

“When I saw Freddie’s cover for JSA All-Stars #4, I begged Alex to let us put it up early. For one thing, it’s got Sand on it. Sand is one of my favorite JSAers, and he’s been due for a resurgence for quite some time. Well, that resurgence begins in issue four. For another thing, unfortunately, it looks like someone else from the JSA’s past is resurging behind him. That can’t be good.”

<3

<3

<3

I am a happy fangirl! Issue four! Issue four! Resurgence! Not just a one page monologue every two years or so!

I won't be coherent for a while. Joy!

Happy Birthday to Pretty Fizzy Paradise!

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:32:00 +0000

Well! My blog is officially 4 years old today! That's three and a half years of daily posts and then...well, not so much with the daily anymore, but still pretty frequent.

Still not too bad!

But yeah, I'm celebrating now. Because I love you guys! <3

And I'm totally hiding from Constitutional Law. Heh.

I'm Lazy, so here are some old posts!

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:06:00 +0000

I'm ALIVE! ALIIIVE!

In celebration of this, the fact that three out of four exams are done, and Sandy Hawkins has had actual panel time this decade, I'm linking some old Sand appreciation posts.

Also I'm lazy and want to sleep.

But anyway! For people who have forgotten why little Sandy Hawkins is awesome, behold:

1) He's a mouthy little bastard.

2) Also, he's a total asshole.

3) He's got a perverted villain with appropriate taste in movies.

4) He has style. And is pretty unflappable.

5) Also his seventies era resurrection story was priceless. (This post is Diamondrock's, not mine, but is still good! :-)) For added fun, my 60 second summation!.

6) He jumps into flying cars!.

7) And once got punched onto railroad tracks by a little person.

8) His mentor is a complete and total dick Also when he WASN'T a dick, he was a total goober.

Which meant, Sandy had to have brains enough for both of them.

9) He got to save Wes from his own stupidity. (Because Wes is an idiot.)

10) And Wes once used him as a fake chess robot.

11) His old costume looked strikingly like bondage gear.

12) He is also frequently naked. Sadly I can't link my friend's old lovely posts cataloguing this but here's a naked resurrection pieta style, and also, much advantage involved when your costume insta-forms.

13) He had style when wearing clothes, too!

So now that you obviously appreciate little Sandy Hawkins, you can join me in my hope that he'll actually get to do something in JSA All-Stars! I'm counting on you, Matthew Sturges!

Non-Comic: Rants and Rambling

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:38:00 +0000

If I ever schedule three finals in two days again, someone shoot me in the head. Clearly I'm not using it.

(Disclaimer: Not necessary, I have one semester left and already checked my exam dates multiple times. I'm a dipshit, but I LEARN, thank you.

That is, assuming I pass.)

Anyway, for the curious, the three finals I have are Immigration Law tomorrow at 6:00 pm (studying now, starting to get confident), Bankruptcy on Wednesday at 9:00 am (...less confident) and Future Estates Drafting on Wednesday at 1:30 pm. (Eeek.)

I'm actually best at FE, normally, and the test shouldn't be that bad. But I do have to make sure I brush up on all the special rules like Shelley's and Doctrine of Worthier Title, and fucking Wild's which I NEVER remember.

I'm actually okay with the CONCEPTS, but I have trouble keeping the names straight. Which will be fun considering the drafting portion of the test is all "Draft a conveyance that uses Shelley's rule."

Bankruptcy is my worst subject, and I totally didn't pay enough attention during class, but I spent the most time studying on it. (On advice of a friend, I studied for my worst, latest exam first, then the more recent. Seems to be working.) Also, it's open book and trusty friend/victim Matt also lent me his outline which is so much better than mine that it's pretty fucking sad. And the text book is red. This is meaningless to you, but I've found in my lawschool that the law text books range from brown (terrible, no explanation, drawn out cases), blue (case heavy, but some explanation) and red (awesome and actually tells you why this shit matters).

Immigration Law is somewhere in between. The exam'll be all multiple choice and closed book (blue!). That could be good, but it could also be bad, since I really don't know how he tests. But I've at least got a good memory for concepts. The closed-book thing may be a benefit as the INA (immigration statute) is scattered all to fuck. As an example, marriage fraud gets covered under 237 and 216. For no real reason that I can figure out, except that it seems like whenever Congress passes some new immigration law, they just shove the damn thing wherever in the code. Open book, meaning actually having to find/quote the requisite statute with no margin for error, would be a son of a bitch.

The Professor also actually practices, which seems like a rarity in law school professors. This means he's possibly not as organized a lecturer, but what he talks about is actually relevant.

I possibly know way more about quotas than I ever wanted to, but hey, at least it's interesting.

So yeah. That's what I'm up to. On thursday, I plan to sleep and do NOTHING ELSE. (Except study for my last exam, but that's Monday! Ages away!)

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:27:00 +0000

I am slowly going crazy, 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5, 6 SWITCH!
Crazy going slowly am I, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, SWITCH!
I am slowly going crazy, 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5, 6 SWITCH!
Crazy going slowly am I, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, SWITCH!
I am slowly going crazy, 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5, 6 SWITCH!
Crazy going slowly am I, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, SWITCH!
I am slowly going crazy, 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5, 6 SWITCH!
Crazy going slowly am I, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, SWITCH!
I am slowly going crazy, 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5, 6 SWITCH!
Crazy going slowly am I, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, SWITCH!
I am slowly going crazy, 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5, 6 SWITCH!
Crazy going slowly am I, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, SWITCH!
I am slowly going crazy, 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5, 6 SWITCH!
Crazy going slowly am I, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, SWITCH!
I am slowly going crazy, 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5, 6 SWITCH!
Crazy going slowly am I, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, SWITCH!
I am slowly going crazy, 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5, 6 SWITCH!
Crazy going slowly am I, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, SWITCH!
I am slowly going crazy, 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5, 6 SWITCH!
Crazy going slowly am I, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, SWITCH!
I am slowly going crazy, 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5, 6 SWITCH!
Crazy going slowly am I, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, SWITCH!

(Translation: Finals suck.)

More Gleeful JSA-AS Joy!

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:32:00 +0000

Okay, so paper is turned in! I have three exams coming up, but I somehow still feel free enough to blog more in depth on my reaction to JSA All-Stars. Because there's nothing like the return of my other favorite character to make me happy.

So. Thoughts.

1) Johnny Sorrow's brought another precocious blond teenager to a broken down theatre. Um. Yeah. Well, at least he didn't kidnap Stargirl from her bed. And she's already in her costume. But, still. Ew.

2) I actually am starting to like Magog. It's really hard to explain, but I think it's a combination of me liking assholes, especially ex-military hardass types, and also the fact that I think he's flawed in a fairly realistic/understandable way.

I mean, he's just out of the military. Been transformed into god knows what. He's really not good with kids. Or people. He has no idea how to lead a group of young adults or a superhero team. He needs someone to pull his ass in line.

I kind of sympathize. It probably helps that I am of the distinct belief that he will not be leader of this group for very long.

3) SAND! If I'm reading my set up issue correctly, and I hope-I hope-I hope I am, I'm thinking that this storyline is going to end with Sand as the leader of this group. I mean, it's pretty clear he's joining up since he gets the angsty monologue and his best enemy just showed up, and Willingham hasn't used him really.

It'd make sense if he took over, because he's a powerhouse on level with Power Girl and one who she can trust to actually lead the group and not fuck it up. That'll free her up to lead the main team rather than trying to Wolverine them both. He's actually led the full JSA for a good 20-something issues without any real fuck-ups (unless you count letting Carter be an utter jackass.)

And really, Magog just isn't any good at leading them. I don't know if Sand's any good with kids, but he's been a kid superhero, so he at least gets that aspect. And he can probably keep Magog in line through either politeness or unexpected mouthiness.

4) It occurs to me that this set-up was totally what I wanted from the relaunch and never got. For so long, Sand was really the only JSA member in his particular age group. He was too old to really belong with Stargirl or Jakeem Thunder, but much younger, not counting stasis, than Michael Holt or Dr. Midnite. The only folks around the same age were the Infinity Inc. people and they weren't gonna be in the Justice Society.

I had high hopes with Rick and Jessie and Kara in the relaunch, but that didn't really work out except for one midnight pow-wow with Kara (which is more reason I think he's taking over. Possibly wishful thinking, but his demotion wasn't fair, damnit!). But Sturges actually USED him! Without it feeling like just a compulsory one panel a year, but seems to be going to bring him into the PLOT!

Into a team with Magog, Citizen Steel, and Hourman! All about his age! And kids too, but still!

5) Dude, I just realized something. This is totally more evidence that Blackest Night will fix all the deaths. Because I'm totally calling Jade as the All-Star's token Green Lantern. Actually, I think that'd be a really good role for her. She works best away from the Corps Lanterns, and connected to her father and his legacy.

6) I wonder if Sand ever learned Japanese from Tsunami.

7) Shut up, you get obsessed over your favorites too, and it's been YEARS for me. YEARS!

8) I kind of want Sand and Magog to bond over the whole getting scary monster powers that screw up your life thing. Citizen Steel can show up too, I guess, but he belongs more to the Scott Summers school of sucky powers, where there's pretty much no upside.

Also because I still think Sandy's taking Magog's job.

9) The art is even more wretched second time through. Thank god that I think Kara'll head out once the team gets handed off to a competent leader. I love Kara, but I don't need to see EVERY INCH of her, KTHX.

10) Aside from the art, I love everything this comic wants to be. Everything.

11) It'll be kind of funny if Sand moves in with this team and the other team gets the Brownstone though. Then again, it's probably not healthy to stay there anyway. Live a little!

(*On retrospect, the Brownstone is destroyed anyway. But then I'm pretty sure it's been destroyed at least once before so...)

12) <3

YAYAYAYYAY

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:40:00 +0000

For the record, I'm still plugging away at this god awful paper (due tomorrow!) but I took a teeny break to read JSA All-Stars.

YAY! My favorite character! Panel time! And my favorite villain! Also has panel time!

(Though why is Sand suddenly 90s era gigantic? He's always been slim, darnit. Oh well, I'll refrain from bitching about that for at least five issues out of gratitude.*)

*This is probably a lie.

Not sure what's up with the sudden obsession with Stargirl, mind. Unless Sorrow just has a thing for blond teenagers. Still! I'm in!

(The art is kind of terrible though. But then I DID read all of Warrior. I'll live.)

A Public Service Announcement

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:58:00 +0000

This semester, I have the miraculous luck of having three exams within two days at the beginning of next week. I am. NOT. Ready.

Needless to say, I may well seriously lose my mind. Thus, I will be completely incommunicado. Including this blog, I'd guess.

So, um, don't be alarmed by a very large period of nothing. (Or a post of just stress induced crying). I'll see you guys, next Thursday.

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 08:54:00 +0000

I have the utmost respect for any lawyer who actually had to do this shit without Westlaw. I'm just sayin'.

(Also, how on Earth did you old fogeys ever use form books without computers? It's all [Name of Plaintiff] and all instead of nice useful blanks! I have cut and paste, and the oh so happy delete key. I guess old folks had white out and a typewriter? *shudder*)

In case you can't tell, still no content on this blog. Sorry!

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:12:00 +0000

Final Projects Suck.

That is all!

In Defense of the Star Sapphire Costume (Sort Of)

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 03:03:00 +0000

Recently, on AIM, Ragnell and I got into a discussion about one of our favorite topics: Carol Ferris's costume. See, Ragnell HATES the costume. I on the other hand find it simply hilarious. But also, I actually think it provides an interesting insight into the character*.

(* Of course, this doesn't mean the creators INTENDED such insight, but well, the best part of being a comics fan is trying to make sense of the unexplainable.)

Now before you think I have absolutely no taste (which is probably true, but not in this case) I freely acknowledge that the costume is probably the ugliest thing in the universe. But in a weird way, I think it suits.

The thing that I've always liked about the variations of the Green Lantern costume is the way it reflects the owners' personal tastes and personalities. Hal's is default, which makes sense as for all his ego, he IS a military man and understands the power of the uniform. John's costume is less flashy, more sober and dignified, which reflects his gravitas. Arisia looks like a little girl trying (and failing) to be sexy. Kyle's first costume was a kid's idea for a superhero costume, while his second, designed after he had a better grasp of what the Corps actually was and whose footsteps he was following, reflected a more traditional design, but with a hint of non-conformity in the collar. Guy's is a drastic contrast from the spandex of his colleagues in a way that probably ought to have its own post.

In the same way, I think that the Star Sapphire costume reflects Carol Ferris. That seems a bit ridiculous, since Carol, in her civilian life is a fashionable, well-dressed, dignified business woman. But I think that's part of the point.

When Carol and Hal were first working together, in the Silver Age, he would pursue her bordering on the edge of sexual harassment. She, however, could never really pursue him back for many reasons, including her own personality and her position as his boss. She WANTED him, of course, but it couldn't happen.

(It's a fairly decent reflection of the problems facing women who have high positions in the business world, where it can feel like the only way to get respect as a professional is to essentially sacrifice any appearance of femininity or sexuality. The "frigid bitch female boss" caricature is prevalent for a reason. I find it interesting that the older I get, the more I sympathize and understand Carol's position in those comics. I find it depressing that in thirty or forty years, the situation is still so recognizable.)

Then came the Star Sapphire which opened the relationship to new levels, in entertainingly kinky ways. At least until the mess with the Predator, and all, but that's a tangent.

I think it's fairly important however to note that the Star Sapphire has always had kind of a freeing element to it. Carol, as the Star Sapphire, got to have power and use it, while still embracing her sexuality at the same time. This got ruined once the Predator stuff kicked in, but that element is still applicable now, I think.

Her costume was admittedly more tasteful then, but there's some additional pressure now. It's always hard to pinpoint DC's timeline, but the Star Sapphire storyline began pretty early in Hal's run, and we know that he's been Green Lantern for more than ten years by now. Carol's still a business-woman, with all the pressure that entails, married and then divorced, and she's definitely pushing past forty.

She's also been stuck in a mundane life after playing with aliens and near infinite power. That's got to be rough too.

So, really, it's not that surprising that now that she's once more a Star Sapphire, she's found herself in a costume like that. Think about it. Some of the most buttoned up, repressed people end up being kinky as hell once you get them behind closed doors, and Carol's had twenty years of repression and trying to meet the expectations of everyone else.

The costume is hideous, weird, alien and revealing. It's about as far from a repressed business woman's attire as you can get. Even the ugliness makes a nice contrast to Carol's normal, tasteful attire. And the thigh high boots, and nonsensical collar and other ridiculous design elements...well, you definitely can't say they're DOWNPLAYING sexuality.

So basically, since I read it in the sense of it reflecting Carol's personal hang-ups that I may or may not be projecting a little out of over-identification, I kind of like it.

Of course, the problem with my theory is that the costume seems to be the default for all new Star Sapphires. At the very least, it seems to pop up a lot in crowd scenes. But I can fanwank two possible explanations, I suppose. 1) they're following Carol, or 2) it's the Zamaron's design.

And actually, it works for me as a Zamaron design as well. That at least would explain the weirdness (aliens) and it reminds me of some quote I read once and can't remember where.

It basically argued that any woman could look attractive in pretty, flattering clothes, but it took a truly beautiful woman to look good wearing a potato sack.

If a guy (or gal) is in love/lust with you when you're wearing something THAT awful, then you can believe his/her feelings are real.

And then of course, you can explain it away as it fitting so well with Carol's own hang-ups that she won't (or can't) change it.

So yeah, I don't deny that the Star Sapphire costume is utterly, patently stupid-looking and hideous, but it actually does work for me.

Besides, it's fucking hilarious. :-P

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 07:24:00 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving!

Err, if you're American, anyway. If not, enjoy some turkey (or whatever meal you like in place) and have a nice day anyway!

A Marvel Thought

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:49:00 +0000

You know, it's funny. I've never denied that I'm more of a DC than a Marvel fan generally, but thinking about it, there's one thing I like better about the way Marvel tends to characterize its superheroines.

The women characters have "types".

I'm talking about romance, of course. It's like if you look at the dating history of Lee Forrester for example. She's dated Cyclops, flirted briefly with Cable, and then got with Magneto of all people.

Her type apparently is "severely fucked-up."

Looking at Emma Frost for example, off the top of my head, we have Namor, Scott, Tony Stark (briefly), Sean Cassidy (sort of), and Sebastian Shaw. A monarch, a benevolent mutant dictator/general, a tycoon who was briefly head of SHIELD, a teacher, and a Hellfire King. It really seems that Emma has a thing for authority.

Kitty Pryde seems to have a thing for older foreigners with similar first names. (Though she was in England while dating Wisdom, so I guess that makes HER the foreigner. :-))

And Madelyne Pryor's gotten involved with three Summers men, if you count that brief weird thing with Nate Grey. (CREEPY!) That one may be Mr. Sinister's fault, granted, but still.

Of course, it applies to the guys too. One day I'll post my crazy theory on how every woman Scott Summers gets involved with acts as a parallel to each of his abusive father figures. Maybe later.

It just entertains me. It doesn't seem to be as easy to do in the DCU, except maybe that Clark has an initial kink, Diana seems to like blonds, and Oracle men who have no idea how to dress.

I'd watch it!

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:44:00 +0000

This is a pretty good look at the Flash, and where it's likely to go, but that's totally not why I'm linking it.

I'm linking it for this part:

That definitely solves the problem of the two Flashes looking too much alike, although it remains to be seen how they’ll both fit into DC’s publishing line. Will Barry get an eventual Flash ongoing, and Wally be appearing in a Justice League comic? Will there be a Wally “second feature” in the back of Barry’s Flash? Will Wally be stuck with appearing in Titans while Barry gets JLoA? Will Wally, Kyle Rayner and Connor Hawke get a reality show?

Wally, Kyle, Connor? As long as Power Girl and Guy Gardner get to make guest appearances, I am totally there.

Beware the Ides of March

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:14:00 +0000

Somewhere out there, I know someone must have written Rip Hunter/Cable slash fanfiction.

Someday I will find it. Or write it. Whichever.

Hmm.

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:30:00 +0000

Hmm, okay, well. This makes me slightly LESS intrigued about Hawkman's appearance on JSA.

Michael Shanks is a good looking man, but that...just looks weird.

Then again, is there ever really a live action type guy with wings who actually looks convincing? I can't really think of any. (It's why the one, the only, thing I'll actually give that dreadful Supernatural show credit for was to have their angel reveal using shadows as wing imagery. It looked incredibly cool instead of stupid.)

Then again, does Hawkman really need to look convincing? His wings are SUPPOSED to be strap on aren't they? (Wait, for that matter, why do they bother with feathers? Feathers molt and shed and are hard to clean, and they aren't necessary for flight so...)

Possibly I'm just using this topic as an excuse to avoid my paper.

A Thought.

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:39:00 +0000

Is it wrong that I've always thought Jason Blood and Rose/Thorn would make a cute couple?

Or possibly Jason Blood and Harvey Dent if I'm leaning toward slash.

It'd at least make for interesting date stories!

Motion Comics

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:49:00 +0000

You know what creeps me out? Motion comics. I can't explain it, they're just really creepy to me. They're just so...static. And I don't like how the camera focuses on the picture.

It's weird, because I'm not a traditionalist. I love things like the 40 years of Avengers DVD, and don't particularly feel the need to hold the comic in my hands. (Also, I'm kind of accidently destructive by nature. My comics don't tend to live long. I buy comics to read them, not to preserve them. My stuff would make a hardcore collector cry. The Avengers DVD stores much better and keeps much longer.)

So it's not an aversion to that. Maybe it's the speech thing. Kind of like my dislike of audio books. I read faster than people talk so every time I listen to one, I start chomping at the bit because they're so slow to get to the good parts. (Also, no skimming ahead.) If I'm at all familiar with the original comic, the same thing starts kicking in. Whereas an animated adaptation like the old X-Men cartoons don't have the same problem. Possibly just because my eyes get distracted by pretty colors and movement.

Attention span, I have not.

I'm sad a bit though. Motion comics are cool in theory, but they really don't work for me.

noreply@blogger.com (kalinara) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:45:00 +0000

I've discovered while randomly surfing Wikipedia that I am apparently too stupid to understand BC dates outside of a classroom setting. For example, say, I'm reading about Augustus Caesar, and I'm trying to figure out how the heck old he was during the Liberator's war. I have to keep typing the numbers in notepad, or I get really confused.

It's basic math, but for some reason, once I start going backwards, I get really mixed up. I never used to have that problem. I think Law School really is making me dumber.

Or I just need to start sleeping more. Either way.