Pretty, Fizzy Paradise

Earth Final Conflict Review: 1x05 Old Flame

2012-01-22T03:00:00.006-05:00

So, about two years ago, I started doing my own little reviews for Earth: Final Conflict. I lagged out, basically because I'm a lazy sort, but considering that I've posted next to nothing on this blog for ages, I thought I'd try doing it again.

This has nothing to do with my strange desire to watch a hyperaged alien baby, a homicidal FBI agent and androgynous aliens or anything like that.

Especially since at least one of that is a spoiler for much later in the series.

Now since it's been a few years, I'll warn you that my reviewing style will probably have changed. But to follow along, there's still the helpful little index page in my sidebar. Enjoy!

"I want that second chance."

So this episode starts with a fancy gala affair of some sort. Boone and Lili are there, looking spectacular. Seriously, Lili's dress is amazing. Boone even says that she looks lovely, for a Marine. They trade some banter before parting and Boone goes to find Da'an, who stands out in the crowd in the way you'd expect an alien to stick out among a group of really rich people in fancy dress. Sandoval is there too of course.

Everyone heads outside for a speech. Apparently the Taelons have donated a conservatory...which apparently consists of three modern art sculptures on the front lawn. They make pretty sounds though, and grow as attractive people touch them.

I suppose a dirty joke is a bit too easy there.

And actually, the sculptures have grown into a building which is purple and cathedral like (of course), and Da'an resumes his speech inside. Apparently some human musician has mastered a very difficult Taelon instrument. And Boone recognizes her name: Elyse Chapel.

Elyse is a very pretty brunette, and playing the Taelon instrument seems to work like everything the Taelons do: pretty purple lights and lots of waving your arms around. The audience seems to enjoy it, and Da'an looks pleased. Sandoval glances up at Boone for some reason, but I doubt it's for romantic reasons.

At least I hope not. Boone would crush him.

Anyway, Boone and Elyse definitely know each other as, after the performance, she greets him warmly. (She calls him "Will" even!) He compliments her playing, awkwardly, while she bluntly tells him that she's here for the week and asks if they can get together. I like a woman who knows what she wants. He demurs, but she insists. And he'll meet her tonight.

Da'an has noticed the sparks of rekindled romance and asks for a history. Short answer: he worked security for the UN, she was a harpist with the NY Symphony, they knocked boots. Da'an looks like he's wondering if he'll have to fridge another of Boone's ladies.

Later on they eat dinner and there's the usual television ex-lover bickering about who broke it off with whom (does anyone ever have this conversation in real life? I certainly haven't.) Of course they discuss his marriage, Boone seems to have made it to the quiet acceptance stage. Maybe due to some of the events in the last two episodes. Maybe because he's across from a beautiful woman. Who knows. Anyway, as it happens, the Taelons want her to stay and run the conservatory, she 's decided she only wants to stay if it's okay with him. No pressure, huh? He needs to think about it.

In a nuclear facility, guys are loading mysterious boxes onto a truck, and as it drives off, someone lands on said truck by way of rope and bridge. Through a nifty ruse regarding fake radiation levels, the truck-jumper lures the two drivers around back where they're ambushed by the jumper's friends, who get it open.

Back at Boone's awesome office, Lili (who's back with her normal awful 90s hair instead of the nice do from the party) teases Boone for details and reminds him that the Companions must be number one. A surprisingly jovial Sandoval enters and joins in on the mischief.

Fortunately Boone is saved by old-partner Bob who tells him of the truck hijacking. We find out the contents of the truck (some fissionable plutonium), and Sandoval deems it a threat to Da'an and recommends Boone head the crisis team with old-partner Bob.

Old-partner Bob gets a rank this episode: Lieutenant. Go Bob!

Boone wastes no time getting details and issuing commands to Bob and Lili. Sandoval announces that he'll seal the lakefront (they think the thieves are still in the city) and heads off.

Since Bob's already done what Boone's supposed to be doing, Boone's knocking on Elyse's door. He wants the second chance. But she 's weeping and declares that it won't work. He's near tears and she's crying.

Back in the office, Lili and Sandoval are reporting to a pacing Boone. After Sandoval leaves, Lili confronts Boone. She'd checked with Metro (where Boone was supposed to be) and he'd never showed up. He asks if Doors had anything to do with the threat, but Lili denies it. "We have no use for plutonium." Boone tells her to prepare the shuttle, they're going to DC.

Boone is now confiding in Dr. Belman, whose hair has grown back nicely since last episode, who looks as though she really doesn't want to be hearing this. Boone wants to know if the CVI is why he can't concentrate on anything but Elyse. Belman points out his lack of Motivational Imperative makes him free to love. Boone is unhappy with this, but Belman is thrilled at the implication that the CVI may be enhancing his emotions and wants to run some tests. It's not exactly impromptu brain surgery, but it does lead to some fun freaky flashbacks. Belman verifies that everything's normal. Boone is not happy with this as it means the issue is all his.

Boone is in the process of confronting Elyse, when he's interrupted by Lili and the actual plot of the episode. He tells her to stay put, while he goes to investigate.

Three young men who are not conspicuous at ALL are carrying a case through the platform. This ultimately leads to a firefight between hoodlums, police and Boone, who skrills one. Unfortunately, Elyse followed him and is taken hostage. But Elyse redeems herself by biting the guy and getting free so Boone can skrill the guy. Lili and the cavalry come running to see them making romantic on the stairs.

They find a private place and make out, while Lili pays a visit to an appealingly shirtless Augur. (I love this show.) There's some flirting on Augur's part, but he's willing to help. Lili wants info on Elyse and wants to keep it between the two of them.

Boone and Elyse have done more than make out, it looks like. They're in bed. He's happy and he's also shirtless. (I still love this show!) Elyse is weirdly morose, and she REALLY doesn't like his skrill, equating it to a leash and collar. She seems to apply to the Jonathan Doors school of thought re: Taelons.

Back at work, Lili and Boone discuss where the thieves (thief?) will go next. Boone's planning to lessen security and set up a trap. He then reveals to Lili that Elyse is also anti-Taelon. She's relieved to know he hasn't told her about the Liberation, but she thinks he's not thinking clearly. She makes the mistake of bringing up Kate and he blows up at her.

Augur calls Lili in, he's found the goods: Elyse is on the FBI payroll. And there's something else that we don't get to see.

Lili comes back to Boone's office and shows him the file. Boone is in denial, but Lili has something else: a file on two FBI officers, both of which are Elyse in very bad wigs, proving she's done the espionage thing before. Boone is in shock, but he's interrupted by Bob who's got some results re: their trap. Boone is even more wooden with shock. Lili looks guilty and sympathetic.

Lili, Boone, Bob and others are at the checkpoint, dressed as security. Bob questions one, and Boone glances over and CVI-flashbacks onto the guy's watch. The ambush is successful, leaving Boone more time to brood in his office.

Actually, he's looking at old photo albums (Facebook as imagined in 1997!). Lili comes over to find out what he was doing and make fun of his tux. He takes her through some of the old photos (including the great one I used as teaser image). He also has letters that he'd sent his mother, which he'd scanned onto disk after she died. The important thing however is that there's no reference to Elyse, even though this was the period they were supposed to be together.

They stop at a picture of Boone spending his birthday with friends, and Lili coaxes him to work with his CVI to remember. He remembers her at his birthday all right: celebrating a private romantic birthday with her.

Back at the conservatory, Da'an approaches Elyse, who is playing the Taelon instrument. He notes the anguish with which she's playing. They have a quick cryptic conversation about hiding things. She looks upset.

Meanwhile Lili's brought coffee to Boone. Boone calls back to Lili's statement from the pilot about how once he knew her, he'd never question her loyalty. He says that she was right. She thanks him and tells him that Dr. Belman's investigated. Then Sandoval shows up, looking oddly earnest. Boone's got some questions about the interrogation of the thieves, but Sandoval has no good answers.

Elyse meets Boone at her apartment. They embrace. They talk about her fears re: the Companions, and Boone traps her by asking her about something they said on the way back from the Statue of Liberty. He's never been there, which I find oddly sad. Even though I've never been there either. He confronts her about the made up past. She comes clean: she's playing a role for the Companions, but she didn't count on him. She claims to be genuinely in love with him.

Back at the Embassy, Boone brings Elyse to Da'an and Sandoval, telling them that she's confessed to working against Companion interests. She's taken away by security while Boone watches. Sandoval, who looks hard and grim once more, paces around and questions Boone about Elyse. Boone explains that he kept quiet to find out about her allies and mildly points out that altering memories is a good way to test the CVI. Da'an looks pleased though he questions Boone on how he discovered the tampering. Boone gives an earnest explanation of his comparison of CVI memory with his photos and his deduction that it was a quality control test.

Da'an is pleased and tells him no other implant was able to look within as he did (Sandoval looks v. displeased). It's also revealed that Da'an engineered the theft of plutonium to measure his efficiency during the emotional turmoil. Boone IS upset that he'd killed a man in the test, and asks if that truly served Companion interest. Da'an says that some sacrifices are necessary in developing the Taelon/Human bond.

Later, Lili finds Boone who expresses his feelings of violation. He thinks they've invalidated everything. Lili disagrees. They talk about how she figured out what was wrong, then Boone looks pensively at a picture of Kate and stares out the window.

--

New Characters/Developments:

Elyse Chapel: FBI agent/Taelon stooge, theoretically William Boone's ex-girlfriend

CVIs: can be used to implant false memories. The use of memory is a recurring theme in the show. We'll see them a lot: inherited memories, implanted memories, repressed memories. They're generally important.

Boone: apparently keeps a record of everything. And is a dog person.
--

Review:

I've got mixed feelings about this episode. The action plot was weak, but it's supposed to be since the Elyse/Boone plot was the core of the episode. I'm generally not a fan of romantic subplots, but this one had an actual point.

I didn't like how the episode had Elyse declare that she'd fallen in love with Boone. I hate the plot twist of the hero being the one man to reach the femme fatale. Yes, he's a great guy, but really? And no one briefed the woman on which fake memories were planted in his head? I call shenanigans.

Where did they find an FBI agent who can play a Taelon instrument anyway?

That said, it was interesting to see Boone in the "falling in love" phase, even if it was artifically induced. He was a little dorky, and openly emotional, a nice change from his usual cool block of woodness.

Lili was wonderful in this episode and I liked the way the show made it clear that her distrust of the situation with Elyse had nothing to do with jealousy. Lili's attracted to Boone, yes, but she was perfectly happy to tease him about his dinner with Elyse. She only got worried when he started acting out of character. And then she confronted him, and when he behaved irrationally in response, simply went to Augur (who is always great) and got the proof she needed.

I liked that the ep also fleshed out Boone's partnership with Bob Morovsky. Even though they're no longer partners, they still understand each other. Bob doesn't mind Boone's abruptness, Boone knows what steps Bob's likely to have taken. It's clear they've been working together a long time.

Sandoval and Da'an didn't have much to do this episode, but Sandoval did have some interesting bits. I especially liked how, when Boone took command of the theft situation and issued orders to Bob and Lili, Sandoval made a point of saying what he was going to do. It was probably exactly what Boone would have ordered anyway, but it was a nice emphasis that Bob and Lili are subordinates, but Sandoval is Boone's equal. Sandoval was acting very strange during the episode, from jovially asking about the date to his youthful earnestness when reporting the results of the interrogation to Boone. But that makes sense within the context of the test. Once the test was over, Sandoval was back to normal.

And actually, Dr. Belman's comment about how an MI-less CVI might react to anger or hate may explain a lot of a certain character's actions in later seasons of the show. But that's a spoiler. :-)

Ultimately, this episode re-enforces my opinion of Kilner as an actor. In the quiet scenes, he's amazing. Whenever he's with Elyse, he shines. The way his voice shakes and his eyes glitter during the first speech about wanting the second chance is wonderful. His shock and violation during the reveal is very believable, and the confrontation scene with Da'an and Sandoval is great, especially when he lets slip his unhappiness about having killed a man.

But again, explosive anger does not work. I cringed when he yelled at Lili, and not in a good way. He was much more believable when talking to Sandoval about the interrogations. The quiet anger feels much more appropriate to the character than yelling. I hope the writers realize that soon.

So what did we learn this episode: CVIs still suck. And rekindling old romance is never a good idea.

So Yeah, I'm Pissed Off About This Too:

2012-01-11T21:58:00.004-05:00

David Brothers and Ragnell have already made great, intelligent posts on the subject of Secret Avengers #21. I'd actually recommend reading them before you continue reading this, because they've said everything so much better than I can.

That said, I'm going to add my own angry reaction to this too.

Okay, so here's the page in question:

Okay, this is completely unacceptable for all the reasons that David and Ragnell cover in their posts. Steve Rogers may not be calling himself "Captain America" in this scene, but he is Captain America. The idea of Captain America saying this, even in bluff (and David confirms that it is no bluff, as the next page involves considerable violence), is completely abhorrent.

But you know what bothers me the most about this scene: that Steve Rogers would ever say, as he does in the last panel: "I don't believe in torture. It's ugly, dishonorable and unreliable. So I'm going to let my colleagues do it."

Emphasis mine.

Bull-fucking-shit.

Look, I admit, I'm a very hard sell in the idea that Steve Rogers would condone torture at all. It would have to be a VERY compelling, well-written, and carefully structured story (or set of stories) to allow me to believe character development that would lead Steve Rogers to a position where he found torture an acceptable route. I think that it's possible for someone to tell this story and have me believe it. This is not that story.

But more importantly, even IF Steve Rogers was ever in a position where he condoned torture, he wouldn't do it like this.

There are some character who, while moral, can take the "plausible deniability" stance. For example, when Cyclops established X-Force, he allowed Wolverine to keep him out of the day-to-day running of the team. I had no problem with this decision, because I think that it fit both with how both characters perceive the role of the leader of the X-Men. I think it's fair to say that Cyclops has developed over the years into a character who will uphold the letter of the law, but violate the spirit, in order to serve what he sees as the greater good.

Steve Rogers isn't that kind of person. Steve Rogers isn't that kind of leader. Steve Rogers, whether he goes by "Captain America", "Nomad", "Commander Rogers" or any other name, is a man of utmost integrity and courage. If Steve Rogers is going to violate a law, he will violate a law and he will not hide behind loopholes or plausible deniablity.

This "I'm going to turn my back and let my friends violate my principles for me, so I can keep my hands clean" thing? Out of the fucking question. If Steve Rogers is going to condone torture, he's going to condone torture. He's going to say something like: "I don't believe in torture. I think it's ugly, dishonorable, and unreliable. But right here and now, I think it's our only option."

He will own the violation of his principles.

Also, there is no way in HELL, he would turn his back and leave the room. Steve Rogers is no coward and he doesn't shirk his responsibility. If Steve Rogers made the call to condone torture, he would be in that fucking room. This doesn't mean I think he'd inflict the torture himself, of course. I honestly don't believe he has the capacity to do that. But he would be there to see it. As a matter of responsibility, he needs to see the consequences of his decisions through to the end.

I generally like Warren Ellis's work. I think he has a very distinct style and tone that suits certain heroes and teams better than others. I loved his Astonishing X-Men for example, and I think the above scene would not, necessarily, be out of character for Cyclops. But Cyclops is not Captain America. And Captain America would not make this call.

I am very disappointed in this issue. This is not my Captain America.

Meme Answers

2012-01-08T18:09:00.004-05:00

1) Guy Gardner (DC Comics)
2) Emma Frost (Marvel Comics)
3) Tobias Gregson (Sherlock Holmes)
4) Starfire (DC Comics pre-reboot)
5) William T. Riker (Star Trek TNG)
6) Amy Allen (The A-Team)
7) Professor Charles Xavier (Marvel Comics)
8) Deanna Troi (Star Trek TNG)
9) Carrot (Discworld)
10) Cheetara (Thundercats, old version as I haven't seen the new one)

---

6 and 7's boss announces he's running for president and dares them to find a reason for him to not run. What do they do? If they find something embarrassing do they tell anyone?

Okay, well, considering we have Amy Allen and Charles Xavier...about the only time I think Xavier has anything that can be called a boss is when Scott overthrows him. I could see Scott hiring a reporter in a botched PR attempt though.

Amy's a super-reporter and Xavier's a telepath, so finding secrets shouldn't be hard. On the other hand, it's hard to think of something embarassing that wouldn't have already come up, so exposing the secret is pointless. They may have to go to plan B: four guys in a van, shooting but never hitting anything to try to changes his mind.

1, 4, 5 and 9 all have an embarrassingly geeky hobby, what are they?

Guy, Kory, Riker and Carrot. Strip Dungeons and Dragons. I'm pretty sure Guy, Kory and Will can find a way to make it work.

2, 3, 8, and 10 all discover they're one class shy of completing college degrees. What classes would they sign up for?

Emma Frost, Tobias Gregson, Deanna Troi, and Cheetara.

Hmm, well. I'm a big supporter of basket weaving. Mostly because I think it'd really annoy Emma and Gregson. Troi would enjoy it, and Cheetara would weave the baskets too fast to really bother with.

1 asks 10 out on a date. Does 10 accept? If so, where do they go?

Guy and Cheetara. I could see it. So yeah, she accepts. They go and prank Mumm-Ra. Poor Mumm-Ra.

Superman is visiting, and comes down with a case of Super-Hiccups. What do 2,5,8 and 9 do to cure him?

Emma, Riker, Troi and Carrot. Well, Troi and Riker probably have some cure from the Enterprise. If not, Emma can always try impromptu "mental therapy" to get rid of it (the catatonia afterward is a bitch."

Failing that, Carrot can try to scare them out, which should be pretty funny.

#1 and 4 have decided to throw a fancy dinner party. 3 is being lazy, and 6 and 10 are allergic to everything. How does 7 get things under control...and who polishes the silver?

Guy and Starfire throw the party, Gregson is lazy, Amy and Cheetara are allergic...

Well, it's Xavier so I think he gets things under control through a mix of authoritative commands, a hyper-competent but emotionally disturbed teenager, and dubious-ethicality telepathy. Cyclops will polish the silver and like it.

Hal Jordan shows up and declares that he is powerless except from the waist down. What do 1,4 and 8 do about it?

Guy laughs his ass off. Starfire grins and says at least the important parts still work. Troi offers therapy.

2, 3 and 9 go to Las Vegas and make fools of themselves. What happens in Vegas...stays in Vegas...except that there is video footage. What does 10 do about it?

Emma, Gregson and Carrot go to Vegas. I suppose Cheetara can run and steal the video. She'll probably keep it quiet because even though Emma and Gregson are jerks, Carrot's a nice boy.

A giant serpent is running amuck. How does 1 handle it?

Well, it's Guy. He handles shit like this on general principle. So he'll use the ring, whack the crap out of the serpent while insulting its parentage in the process.

Evil hammers are falling from the sky and making people act crazy. Does 2 grab one?

Please, Emma Frost doesn't do manual labor. She might make Scott pick it up though.

3 finds out someone made an adult film based on his/her life. 3's response?

well, Gregson IS Victorian. He'd probably use it to gloat over Lestrade.

4 somehow screwed up the past and now 5's life is totally different. How did 4 do this, and how is 5's life different?

Well, they are in the right order time period wise. I'd like to think Starfire accidently blows up Alaska. This is nothing against Alaska, as I'm sure they rebuild. But this might have led into Riker's interest in buxom aliens.

Sally Floyd calls 6 unAmerican for not following Nascar. What does 6 do?

Heh, Amy's a member of the A-Team. I'm pretty sure she can change her mind. Or call the guys in. Somehow this will lead to Face pretending to be a Jeff Gordon type, BA in a race car, and Murdock showing us all why helicopters should be permitted to race.

A war is brewing between heroes. What does 7 do?

Depending on his mood at the time: Xavier'll mind whammy or do jack shit. :-P

8 is taken to an alien planet and forced to fight for a vague concept. 1 through 10, who does 8 pick to be his/her team (5 people total)

Hmm. Well. Deanna Troi's not much of a fighter herself. I'll go with Starfire and Cheetara for physical muscle. Emma Frost and Charles Xavier for mental muscle. (Being from Betazed, she probably understands military use of telepaths better than anyone.) And Riker, because someone needs to discuss ponderous Federation concepts with her while hitting on the alien babes.

9 finds out that there is going to be comic based his/her life. The team is Mark Millar and Jim Balent. How does 9 react, and what would be the series be promoted as?

Hmm, well. Carrot's a nice boy. I'm sure he wouldn't react too violently. On the other hand, I'm sure Angua might have an opinion or two, as Balent's version of a lady werewolf might get interesting.

And he might have to go politely discourage Mark Millar's portrayal of the Watch.

10: same thing, only the team is Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. How does 10 react, and what would be the series be promoted as?

Cheetara would probably have fun with that. She's an alien cat lady who runs fast, so I'm sure the Chivalrous Cheetah will save the day!

3 and 4 have been hit with a shrinking ray and are trapped in 7's bedroom. What's the most dangerous thing in there to them in their five-inch-high forms?

Hmm, Gregson and Starfire. Xavier's room. My guess would be accidently getting stepped on by Magneto...

...not that I'm implying anything.

1, 2, and 8 go out partying with a shapeshifter pretending to be 9. Who figures it out first, and what gives him away?

Okay, well assuming neither Emma's telepathy or Deanna's empathy pick up anything. I'm sure they'll figure something out when Carrot actually understands/reacts to Guy's obnoxious comments.

2,3 and 5 visit a parallel world in which 7 was never born. What's the most obvious difference?

Emma, Gregson, Riker...I suppose this is differentiated from Age of Apocalypse since Xavier was alive and then died in that one...

My guess is that there are a lot fewer teenage mutant vigilantes?

6 has been elected President of the United States, somehow. What cabinet positions would 7, 8, and 9 be up for?

Amy? Awesome. I think Deanna will get to be Secretary of State (she's more likeable than Xavier). Xavier can be Secretary of the Interior. Carrot can be Secretary of Justice.

The rest of the positions will be filled by the A-Team. All of them. There will be a lot of explosions.

There is going to be a film based on Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose.
1 and 7 are up for the role of Tarot. Who gets cast, but who would be better for the role?

Guy Gardner or Charles Xavier. Hmm. Guy's redheaded, younger, and has gone around wearing less clothing, so he'd be best for the role. Thanks to Xavier's mind-whammy, he'll also be the one to get it.

2 gets roped into a debate over Wicca with Raven Hex. How long does it last and who wins?

Emma would hardly do anything so uncouth as to argue politics or religion. She might however exchange fashion tips.

3 gets stuck working with the Skeleton Man. How long does the Skeleton Man go without almost dying, and does 3 do anything to prevent this? Bonus points if you say how 3 and Skeleton Man end up in a compromising position and what the position is.

Hmm, well considering Gregson's got at least one guy killed for inactivity. I think the Skeleton Man has about fifteen minutes. Gregson might call in Sherlock Holmes...

For the compromising position: Gregson gets caught trying on Skeleton Man's outfit. Scotland Yard will never stop laughing.

8 wakes up to a naked were-cat under his/her bed. 8's reaction?

Deanna will probably have the poor confused thing transported to the holodeck until they can figure out where it came from.

6 finds a sleeping vampire cheerleader in his/her luggage. The response?

Amy finds a sleeping vampire cheerleader in her luggage. She'll probably call Murdock. It seems like the sort of thing Murdock has seen before.

9 is being haunted by a ghostly T-Rex. How does 9 resolve this issue?

Carrot will explain to it how many laws it's breaking and politely ask it to leave. Carrot is very persuasive.

10 is attacked by foul mouthed schoolgirls with swords in their rulers and a leader with uranium filled breast implants. Does 10 defeat them and how?

She'll probably run around them until they fall over. Fortunately she should be able to outrun a uranium-breast implant explosion...

Ghostly nurses are attacking people and stealing body parts. If the ghosts won't tell 4 where they are going, can 4 still stop them?

I'm pretty sure Starfire could take a couple of ghostly nurses. :-) And look better doing it.

Uh-oh, it looks like the Misfits have finally taken Jem & the Holograms out. 1 through 5, who steps in to repalce the band and what instruments do they play?

Hmm. Guy, Emma, Gregson, Starfire and Riker.

Well, Riker plays the trombone. I don't know if Gregson can play an instrument, but maybe he could learn the drums?

Starfire's the only one outrageous enough to be the lead singer. Emma'll be the keyboarder who always thinks she should get more attention. And Guy'll be basist. He should have fun revisiting the war-paint of his Warrior days.

Speaking of the Misfits, it looks like they have been arrested for all the stuff they do. 6 through 9, who replaces them and what do they play?

Hmm. Amy, Xavier, Troi and Carrot. Well barring Xavier, and MAYBE Troi, I don't think this group will be particularly good at the bitchy misfit angle. I'd put Xavier on keyboards, Amy and Troi singing and guitar. Carrot on drums.

Does 10 represent the Misfits in court? Only on Third Earth.

General Hawk is looking for a few good men (and women or robots) 1 through 10, who gets picked and what are their are their codenames? If they have alter egos, then they have to pick new names.

Hmm. I think I'll go with Guy, Starfire, Carrot and Cheetara, for combat ready characters.

Riker and Troi are sort of military already. And Troi's got a semi-useful psychic ability.

Amy's hung around a group of crazy war vets with guns and a van, and picked up some of their skills, so he might pick her too.

As useful as telepathy is, I doubt he'd pick Emma (too high maintenance) or Xavier (not so good at follower-type roles), and Gregson's probably out of luck unless they needed someone used to Sherlock Holmes.

For codenames...

Guy Gardner: The Monkey-Spanker
Starfire: Corona (referencing stars AND beer!)
Riker: The Trombone(r)
Amy: Lady A.
Troi: Mistress Mindscrew
Carrot: The Giant Dwarf
Cheetara: The Speeding Bullet

Giant robots that change shape are attacking! 1,3,5,8, and 10 are caught in the middle. What do they do?

Hmm, Guy, Gregson, Riker, Troi, Cheetara

I'm thinking Guy and Cheetara would go straight for ass-kicking, Riker and Troi would contact their ship and beam civilians out. Gregson would complain and maybe call Sherlock Holmes for an explanation.

A giant zombie is tearing up the city and just shoved 2 inside it's rib cage. What does 6 do?

Probably call the A-Team. If anyone can handle a giant zombie, they can.

9 has been swallowed by a one eyed monster! What does 9 do and can 7 help?

I'm pretty sure Carrot can punch/slash his way out. Xavier can give him directions so he doesn't get lost on the way.

Meanwhile, a giant goblin is turning the Statue of Liberty to life so he can date it. Does 4 play match maker or not?

Starfire's pretty open-minded, so sure!

1 through 9, who would like to be on Geekademia, the best darn podcast on the internet?

http://www.geekademia1.blogspot.com

I think Gregson, Riker and Troi are most likely too. For one, they'd be appreciated there. For two, the others are a tad impatient/snooty.

1,3,7, and 9 form a team. What is their name and can 2 stop them?

Hmm, Guy, Gregson, Xavier and Carrot. I'll go with some variation of "the almighty douchebags." Which they're okay with, because Guy likes to call himself "almighty", Gregson and Carrot don't know what a douchebag is, and Xavier let his students cast his vote.

Emma can probably stop them. Xavier's a stronger telepath, but she's surprised him before, Gregson's an ordinary man, Carrot can be reasoned with, and Guy is distracted by boobs.

4 gets blasted into space and forced to watch bad movies. Do they use special parts to make some robot friends? if so, what parts?

Hmm, Starfire doesn't normally tend to build robots, but she's from a space faring society and hangs around with the Titans, so I bet she can learn. She likes people after all. She probably asks Cyborg to send her up some materials.

What song does 9 play when he/she tries to kill 7 with a forklift?

Killing me softly with his song.

Does 3 know where the fish live?

If he doesn't, I'm sure Sherlock Holmes could tell him.

Can 2 live like the hu-mans? Does 3know of...the plan?

Only if the hu-mans can afford a designer wardrobe, and probably. He IS the smartest of Scotland Yard, after all. He'd find out just to lord it over Lestrade.

would 8 wish away all the springs?

Nah, she likes springs.

1,4,7,9 get cast in a Marx Brothers biography. Who plays who?
Groucho:
Chicko:
Harpo:
Zeppo:

Hmm, Guy, Starfire, Xavier or Carrot.

I'll go with Xavier as Groucho, Starfire as Chico, Carrot as Harpo and Guy as Zeppo. (He IS the underappreciated Green Lantern after all.)

5 gets roped into hosting a horror movie on a local TV station. What character does he/she play and is it based on Elvira?

Riker, hmm. Well, I don't think he could pull off Elvira's wardrobe (though maybe he could talk Troi into it). He could probably pull off smarmy vampire type, though.

1 has to take care of a cat that eats nothing but Italian food. How do that go?

Eh, Guy could go for Italian. It'll work. Especially if he can make Hal or Kyle cat-sit.

2 finds a duck with gold bands around its feet. what does 2 do?

Probably leave it alone. Emma Frost doesn't do wildlife.

3 runs into two men who are vague about eveything. what happens to 3?

Probably ends up another one of Watson's case files.

4 finds him/her self trapped with Funky Winkerbean in a lousy pizza place. How long before 4 beats Funky to death?

Starfire's fairly nice, but I'd give it 2.5 days.

5 is nearly run over by a hatefilled old man in a school bus. 5's response?

Riker would probably shrug and introduce himself to the old man's attractive daughter.

3, 6 and 9 go for a nice walk in the country.

Who falls in the river and why.

Who feeds the ducks and what does he/she feed them.

Who declares that it's a dull day and they should fight to liven things up.

Hmm, Gregson, Troi and Carrot. I'll go for Gregson falling in the river, (he was looking for a clue), Amy feeds the ducks as part of Hannibal's plan, and Carrot suggests the fight.

However, as Gregson and Amy are fairly ordinary people, he'll probably suggest they go find a bar of drunken idiots so he can fight them instead. Amy will go for it, she probably misses good bar fights.

can 6 insepct concrete?

After a year or two with the A-Team, I'm sure she can forge some credentials.

can 3 catch rats?

No. Lestrade is the faster runner. :-)

--

I hope you enjoyed!

quick update

2012-01-05T23:24:00.001-05:00

:-) So anyway, this week got a bit hectic, so I'm delaying my meme answers to the weekend. This does mean if you want to hop in to ask anything else, you're more than welcome!

A Rant About Comic Book Death

2012-01-03T22:00:00.004-05:00

Okay, so, I figure I'll give it one more day for the meme. So if you'd like to hop in to ask more questions, please do!

Meanwhile, I've been catching up on comic book gossip. And I've discovered a bit of a pet peeve.

Can we put a moratorium on asking if, after INSERT COMIC BOOK HERE, killing off characters is entirely meaningless?

Because, dude. This ALWAYS comes up. This time it's Fear Itself's fault. But before Fear Itself, people were saying the EXACT SAME THING after Flash Rebirth, Captain America's return, Green Lantern Rebirth, the Black Lantern storyline, Bucky Barnes's return, Jason Todd's return, Death/Return of Superman, and so on and so forth.

Hell, Bruce Wayne died TWICE to pave the way for Dick Grayson's Batman, just in case the first time didn't stick.

Guys. Character death in comics IS meaningless. It has always been meaningless. It will always BE meaningless. It's like character death in a soap opera. Ultimately, it will only last until someone has a "better" idea.

So someone died in Fear Itself. That someone turned out not to be dead. Someone else dies in Children's Crusade. That character may or may not come back by the end of the arc.

Well...of course. This is a series about the Scarlet Witch! Are we really supposed to believe this is the end of the story?

Killing a character (or seeming to) in act one and bringing that character back in act four is not a new literary device. It's not a new comic book device. Off the top of my head, we saw it in Blackest Night. We saw it in JLA Obsidian Age. I'm pretty sure it's happened to the Avengers and X-Men more than once.

Now, I agree, it is a problem when the reader isn't engaged enough in the storyline. Spacing fake deaths, or undo-able deaths out is probably a better option.

But ultimately, a death in comics is like any other event in comics. It's about the execution of the story. If you're emotionally involved in the death scene, even knowing the odds that the character will be back by the end of the arc. Or the end of the year. Or the next main crossover event. Or the next main "let's restore comics to our childhood memories!" nostalgia crisis. Then it's a win. If you're emotionally involved in the resurrection/return, whether you feel relief, anger, joy, or whatever. It's a win.

If you feel apathetic toward either the death or the resurrection? It's a failure, but what the hell, it's not like they can't kill the character off again (and resurrect him/her later.)

It's comics. Death is never permanent except for ~~Barry Allen~~, ~~Bucky Barnes~~, ~~Jason Todd~~, Uncle Ben or Thomas Wayne!*

And honestly, I'm fine with that.

(*Until someone with enough clout has a "better" idea. :-P)

Countdown to New Years!

2011-12-31T18:50:00.003-05:00

So well, another year gone. Another year older. All that crap. :-)

It occurs to me that I haven't blogged anything useful in AGES (life got a little hectic. Even my tumblr suffered, and I don't even have to THINK to do that one.)

So anyway, if anyone is still around, let's do a meme thing again! It's the perfect start to the year!

Same rules as always. I think of a list of ten characters, generally coming from whatever I'm watching/reading at the moment (:-P) and I don't tell you who. You ask me questions like: if 1 and 9 played strip karaoke, who'd win?

I give you answers that hopefully amuse you. :-)

If no one decides to take part, I understand. But if you play, I will love you forever!

Still Alive

2011-12-11T15:44:00.004-05:00

Hah, I haven't actually forgotten I have a real blog, even though I haven't had much to say on it lately.

Enjoying comics, reading a string of Anne Perry novels (I think I'm starting to dream in Victorian English. But not any sort of accurate kind. Bad cinematic Victorian England. Where everyone wears bowler hats and says "guv" a lot.)

Binghamton's nice. I've settled in. Getting used to things. I have too many food places in walking distance and therefore will never cook again. :-)

Started watching Revenge because it's really soapy and kind of ludicrous. In the best way. Now if only someone would start flying and punch a meteor...

Nothing else new with me! How about you?

Nifty?

2011-11-12T21:53:00.002-05:00

Dude. If the Star Trek Sequel really does feature Khan, that'd be potentially awesome.

As long as he still wears Ricardo Montalban's outfit. :-)

Mumbling Update

2011-10-29T23:53:00.002-04:00

Moving day tomorrow. Bleh. No internet for a few days.

On the plus side, new place is nice and the cat will finally have window sills!

Yay, me!

My Problem with the New DCU:

2011-10-16T23:37:00.007-04:00

I don't really like to be negative, and I was cautiously optimistic about the reboot, but I have to admit, on average, I've been very dishearted about the new DCU products and it took a scene from Justice League International #2 to make me realize why.

Look, it's not that I'm incredibly attached to the idea of Guy Gardner and Tora Olafsdottir being true lovers forever. In fact, I've argued a few times on this blog that I thought it was perfectly realistic that, post-resurrection, Tora and Guy would break up since really, he's not the man she knew anymore. And death changes everyone.

But...this isn't a break-up. This is a "they never were." And maybe it's just my undying love for Beau Smith's Warrior talking, but that really upsets me.

The Guy and Ice relationship was important to both characters. When they met, Guy was a brain damaged thug with no control over himself or anything else. She made him try to be better. Even when everyone else had fun at his expense, (such as the ice-skating issue), he TRIED to keep his temper, to exert control of himself, to make her happy. She made him try to be better than he was.

And while she was rarely mentioned overtly, she was a very important part of his development in Warrior. Her death, his regeneration, all of it led to him finally being able to become the man he always wanted to be for her. From his conversation with her mother in one of the early issues (in HER language even, which he'd learned even in the midst of brain damage so severe he couldn't complete a crossword puzzle correctly) to making peace with Fire in the Christmas issue, and onward.

He COULD have stayed angry. He had some right. Especially with the people who KNEW that his idiocy and temperament had a medical source rather than just being the way he is but still acted like he was a stupid jerk (HAL). But he didn't. Sure, he kept the abrasiveness and mouthiness. But he added warmth, empathy, compassion. He became the guy who'd take the rookie Green Lantern girl-watching when the kid seemed depressed. He became the guy who'd offer a nameless newbie hero a drink rather than be provoked into a fight.

He did this for her. Because of her. And even if they never did get back together, that relationship was important.

And he was good to her too. Granted, I can't go on to the same extent, since she spent a lot of that time dead. But when they were together, she thrived. She'd always been quiet. A little passive. Heck, the first time he was a jerk to her, she cried. But pretty quickly in the relationship, she took charge. She stood up for herself. She yelled at him when he deserved it.

In a way, his obnoxiousness was an asset, because he was so awful that she COULD finally be provoked to anger and not feel any guilt or hesitation about it.

That normally wouldn't be a good formula for a romance granted, but considering that Guy LOVED it when she stood up for herself, and how hard he tried to change for her. It worked.

And now it's gone. It never happened. They had a few dates and that's it. He didn't try to change for her. She didn't find her spirit for him. Nothing.

It may be that the writers are building up to something. That she'll see what she's missing. That he'll wear her down and win her over. But I don't care about that. Because it already happened. Before. When it meant something. When he really did have almost no redeeming qualities. So what if she does decide she likes him now? He's a likeable jackass with a heart of gold. LOTS of chicks go for that type. Loving him before took actual sainthood damnit, loving him now? It's not that hard.

And if he did remold himself just because of a few dates, that just makes him a creepy stalker. Yay?

And they're not the only ones of course. They're just the ones I particularly care about.

Clark and Lois? Back to square one. Barry and Iris? Off the table. Kory and Dick? Well, at least that one happened even if Kory is apparently a sexbot now. It's like DCU looked at the Spider-Man/Mary Jane unmarriage and decided to use it as a model for the whole damn universe.

If the writers really want to write for single superheroes, why not have them get divorced?

As a comparison, look at Scott Summers and Jean Grey. Now granted, a lot of it's contrived. And she's dead. But eventually she'll be back. And right now at least, it looks like the creative teams have no intention to bring those characters back together.

And you know what? That's fine. Even if they never get back together, even if Jean goes with Logan or someone new. Even if Scott stays with Emma, goes with Frenzy, or dates Logan himself. (Not likely, but it could be hilarious.) They're still going to have that history, and that history will be there any time they talk, fight, team up... The emotion will be there. The passion.

And that's what's missing in the new DCU for me. The romance. The passion. The emotion. Taking all these couples back to their source? You lose all the emotional currents between them.

I'm sure writers are looking forward to building these "new" relationships up again, but me, as a reader, I'm looking at an emotional void where my investment used to be. So Clark is crushing on Lois who barely notices he's alive. That's a far cry from the warmth and camraderie of the married couple that I loved. At least if they divorced, I'd have SOMETHING. The anger, the hurt over whatever it is that broke them apart.

But there's nothing. And I'm finding it very hard to care.

Now there are a few exceptions, but on a whole, this new DCU is a cold, listless, passionless universe to me right now. Maybe that will change soon, but for right now at least...and I never would have thought I'd say this:

Make Mine Marvel. It may make me angry sometimes, but it never leaves me cold.

Personal Update

2011-10-13T23:39:00.001-04:00

So anyway, I'm still alive! I'm gonna start blogging here more often again, too.

Work's been very hectic. Mostly because I'm being transferred to our Binghamton office, starting November 1. So it's a matter of planning to move/move/getting work finished up here.

Tumblr's a lot easier than blogging actual thoughts when your brain is fried. :-)

But I'm starting to settle back into a workable routine, so I should be back soon. Yay me!

2011-10-02T12:29:00.002-04:00

So anyway, I'm still on my tumblr kick! But I thought about you guys, so I enabled non-tumblr replies for the posts.

All you gotta do is put in an email address (fake is fine) and you can reply! If you want, if you don't, that's ok too. :-)

I'm thinking about doing some sort of tumblr round up for the blog, but that might be too much work on account of the fact that I tumblr like an over-caffeinated godzilla.

Enjoy!

A Rant About Something I Haven't Read...

2011-09-25T22:52:00.000-04:00

I thought I was annoyed by Amanda Waller, but man, Red Hood's depiction of Starfire takes the cake.

Now, full disclosure: I haven't read the comic. It's possible that the bits I've seen that I'm complaining about are only part of the story and mitigated by the rest.

It's not the costume that bothers me. Don't get me wrong, I think the costume's stupid, but Starfire can fly in space. She probably doesn't need a whole lot in the way of weather protection. So if she wants to wear a couple of flimsy bits of cloth for decoration, fine. (It's kind of similar to the way I look at some of Storm's less substantial costumes. If you've got a character for whom clothing really doesn't serve much practical purposes, then you've got more leeway, I figure.)

But what they did to her personality? What the hell?

Look, Starfire was always kind of wish-fulfillment, creator-fantasy made flesh (well, ink and paper at least). It's always been kind of obvious that she was made to suit someone's taste. She's free spirited, cheerful, wears very little clothing, has lots of sex. She could absorb languages through any number of ways, but she does it by kissing because it's fun. Her name is also a ridiculous pun.

But she was fun. She fit an emotional niche on the team. She was particularly suited to Dick Grayson, due to being the exact opposite of the over-cerebral bat-angst that he's used to. She feels things, deeply. She cuts through bullshit. She gets to have sex without being bogged down by angst and drama. She's got a dark backstory but she doesn't let it pull her down.

She has so much potential. She suited Teen Titan soap opera. She worked equally well in space in 52. And I'm still sad that I'll never get to see her and J'onn Jonzz team up in an Howard/Rice-Burroughs/Brackett inspired epic, where they wander about Mars and punch aliens in the face.

The Starfire the bits of Red Hood that I saw, (which again, I admit, is not the full story), doesn't have any of the qualities that I liked. I was going to say they kept the sex-positive aspects, but really they didn't. A sex-positive character is a character that gets enjoyment out of sex. That character has sex because she loves (or at least LIKES) her partner. A sex positive character can have casual sex, sure, but not meaningless sex. There's a difference. A character who has sex just for the sake of having sex, with partners that might as well be robotic stand-ins for all that she actually cares about them, who can barely remember former partners' names? That's not a sex-positive character.

So what did she get to keep? A design and powers? Is that it?

Please tell if I'm wrong. If you've read the comic and can verify that the excerpts floating about online are wrong. Or out of context, at the very least. If my impression of the character from those excerpts is mistaken, please tell me. I will go out and buy the comic right now. I will get over my irrational aversion to Jason fucking Todd out of sheer appreciation for a character I didn't realize I loved so much until I thought she was gone.

Hell, if you can tell me that you think this personality shift actually has a point, and will maybe be leading somewhere interesting (like brainwashing that will then be undone), I...probably won't spend money on this comic, but I'll keep an eye on it and reconsider when the storyline reaches its climax.

At any rate, if you guys tell me I'm wrong, I'll buy the comic, read for myself, and take back this entire rant. If you can't, I'm sure as hell not going to waste the time reading it. I'm just going to sulk, grumble and go read something else.

A Long, Confused Ramble About the Wall

2011-09-18T22:17:00.003-04:00

You know, I always tend to have weird timing. I mean, as an example, here I am on a massive Marvel kick, when DC is having its big reboot (and apparently doing really well in the sales department. Though the only thing I really care about is that Marvel isn't trying to follow in the reboot footsteps. Another Ultimate Universe type thing is fine, but I LIKE my idiotic continuity!).

I've been keeping up with some of the New 52 sporadically, though until now, I'd thankfully missed the new Amanda Waller design. I think it should make me angry, but really, it just makes me sad.

It'd be one thing if Etta Candy or Julia Kapetalis or Ma Hunkel, or other ladies who don't fit the standard stereotypical mold were visible anywhere in the new DCU (I'm still holding out hope for Etta Candy appearing in Wonder Woman), then remolding Amanda Waller to look more like the actress who played her in the movie wouldn't bother me as much.

Well, no. Honestly. It'd still bother me. In the same way that Batman wouldn't look right as a 5'3" man with a handlebar mustache, Amanda Waller doesn't look right as a slender young thing. It's not her design, and when you're dealing with an entirely visual medium, that's important.

It'd be one thing, maybe, if this were a big deal. If it was revealed later that Amanda used some drastic technique to look like this for the sake of a mission. Or even that she really wanted to be in a more conventionally attractive shape and got her way there. That...wouldn't entirely save it for me, but it'd mean something.

If Superman suddenly showed up with a platinum blond dye job, I'd expect an explanation. And okay, Superman is a vastly more important character to DC than Amanda so that comparison doesn't fly...but hell, we got an explanation for the loss of Guy Gardner's bowl cut. And Guy, much as I love him, isn't really an A-lister either.

I suppose it'll depend on next issue. If next issue has an explanation, or even better, shows that this new body is a trick of some sort (holographic projection?), I'll rescind my complaint, as I am prone to do. :-)

Oooh

2011-09-11T01:46:00.002-04:00

So, anyway, still occupied with tumblr, and that's where I've been of late. :-)

Unrelated to that, these Anne Hathaway as Selina pictures are pretty interesting.

She still looks a bit too young/innocent for Selina to me, but I'll probably feel differently once I actually see the movie. :-) It's a lot easier to suspend disbelief when everything's together. :-)

Quick Opinion

2011-09-04T02:23:00.002-04:00

This is just a reflection of my taste, not a quality assessment but...

I'm a lot more fascinated with/excited by the upcoming X-Men split than I am the DCU reboot.

I like big changes, but I like them building on what came before instead of rewriting it.

I'll enjoy both, I'm sure, but I know which one I'll enjoy more.

Gone Fishing (so to speak)

2011-09-03T11:56:00.002-04:00

So anyway, you may have noticed that I haven't been posting a lot here lately. I blame Tumblr, which is totally designed for slackers like me.

Eventually I'll get bored of it, but until then, I'm probably gonna spend a lot more time there than here. :-) But if you like (or just like to mock) Cyclops from the X-Men, you will probably enjoy my tumblr. :-)

I would watch it

2011-09-01T00:06:00.001-04:00

Dude, if Captain America 2 has MODOK as a villain, I will spontaneously combust with joy.

It'd be so awesome!

So well...I've got mixed feelings...

2011-08-28T23:32:00.002-04:00

I'm happy to hear that there'll be a Justice Society comic, but less happy to hear they'll be on Earth 2 again. I've always liked having the JSA on the same Earth as the others.

So I'm disappointed, but I'll see where they go with it. I'm hoping it'll be present day at least, because then there'd still be a chance of having the legacy/generational elements I like.

So yeah. It could still be pretty good, and I'm definitely not ruling it out, but I'm sad that they're changing an aspect of the DCU that I've always loved. :-(

Another fun tumblr:

2011-08-27T23:35:00.001-04:00

I don't have the energy for a real post today, so here, another fun tumblr link:

Women Fighters in Reasonable Armor.

It's fun, enjoy!

Fun link for you

2011-08-25T23:24:00.000-04:00

The Boobs Don't Work That Way tumblr

I laughed so hard reading it. :-) Enjoy!

Schism-babbling

2011-08-24T00:55:00.003-04:00

It's looking like my prediction is wrong again! (Which makes me happy, since Cyclops is my favorite after all).

I FINALLY caught up to Schism and they're FINALLY putting in seeds of conflict.

And actually, it's the perfect conflict. I always had problems with the idea that Scott somehow crosses a line and makes Wolverine turn on him, because, well, we already had the X-Force thing and Wolverine was involved with that.

But it looks like the conflict (for now) is more about the way Scott used the mutant girl who's name I can't remember, and that actually makes sense to me. Wolverine has always been protective of the kids, to an occasionally hypocritical level (see firing X-23 from X-Force) so it makes sense that this sort of thing would set him off.

At the same time, Scott's not being unreasonable either. He didn't just arbitrarily decide to use the girl like that, there had been no one else. (I particularly liked his whole "You're right. She shouldn't have had to do that. You should have, but you weren't there" bit.) And well, considering his own upbringing, it makes sense that Cyclops is a little shaky on the whole deal. You can't really expect a child soldier to understand the problem with...well...using child soldiers. It's something that Xavier probably should have helped the poor kid with, or got him therapy abou, but he was too busy having his teenaged strike force fight Magneto in the Savage Land. (I actually DO like Xavier as a character, btw. I'm just aghast that the man was ever allowed near children.)

I think there'll have to be something bigger to actually justify a full schism, but now that they've fleshed out one particular conflict, I'm a little more confident that they'll be able to end it without killing off my favorite character.

Now that I've said that, he totally will die. :-P

Hi again!

2011-08-23T00:51:00.001-04:00

Well, I am happily back from my trip. It was mostly fun, though full of minor inconveniences in the way that all trips are. The lack of regular internet made me sad, but what can ya do?

Saw Conan. It was...well, I wouldn't necessarily say GOOD, but it was what a Conan movie ought to be. So I was happy. :-)

Not actually dead!

2011-08-20T10:08:00.000-04:00

Just going to my highschool reunion, and unfortunately, the hotel I'm staying at was apparently struck by lightning. So no internet for me!

:-P Just my luck. Still, it's ought to be fun!

See you on Monday!

No post today

2011-08-17T23:37:00.002-04:00

I have however been having fun on tumblr. :-) If you enjoy random X-Men panels that generally mock and/or celebrate Cyclops, you will probably enjoy my tumblr. :-)

Though admittedly, a lot of what's up there is stuff I originally posted here. :-) But if you can't steal from yourself, who CAN you steal from?

So yeah. That's what I've been up to. :-)

Oooo, again.

2011-08-16T23:43:00.001-04:00

Hey, we get to see the Avengers movie Cap costume!

I can't tell if I like it or not really. I always have problems suspending disbelief with behind the scenes shots, so all costumes look silly to me until I actually see the movie.

I don't hate it though, which already puts it miles above any previous Cap movie costume. I will probably like it more in context (the glimpse in the post-credit Avengers trailer looked fine to me).

I'm really looking forward to the movie!

Thought

2011-08-15T23:56:00.002-04:00

Maybe it's just that making a Cyclops tumblr got me thinking of time travelling father-son relationships, but I really hope the Booster Gold and Rip Hunter relationship does not get retconned out in the new-DCU.

Especially not without a reveal, damnit!

2011-08-14T19:57:00.002-04:00

So...this is actually my 2000th blog post. That is BIZARRE. But kind of cool, for all that I'm pretty sure only about 300 posts have actual content. :-)

I've created a tumblr, which hopefully will inspire me to post a bit more often here too. It's Cyclops-centered, because I'm a fangirl and is here.

I also saw someone claim that Emma Frost made Scott Summers a better leader, which is a claim that utterly breaks my brain (and I actually like the pairing!). It's so brain breaky that I don't even know how to blog about it aside from sputtering madly.

But anyway, this seems like some sort of momentous occasion, so go me and my inability to shut up!

Question (and speculation!)

2011-08-13T23:21:00.003-04:00

If I predicted (incorrectly) something for a previous big storyline, and it didn't happen...

But it DOES happen in this current storyline...

Can I then claim I was right after all?

Because if certain rumors about Schism do turn out to be accurate, then my average of correct guesses to wrong guesses will go up to 1 in 416.

Maybe 3, since I did call both Steve Rogers and Bruce Wayne coming back to life. :-P (Sure, they're obvious. But I'm still counting them.)

Anyway, I have to admit, if the rumor of Cyclops's death in Schism is correct, it would fix a lot of my puzzlement over the storyline. For something that seemed to be teasing a big Wolverine vs. Cyclops conflict, the actual execution isn't delivering.

I mean, we've had Wolverine and Cyclops bickering. Wolverine and Cyclops having difference of opinions. Wolverine going off to drink and sulk while Cyclops gets shit done...

Basically, their standard relationship. I'm enjoying the events so far, don't get me wrong, but well...Wolverine's still following Cyclops's lead, and bitching about it. Cyclops is being fairly open with his appreciation of Wolverine, to the point of snarling at the snot-nosed brat who badmouthed him...

I'm just not seeing anything (yet) that seems to justify Wolverine breaking ranks.

But if Cyclops weren't a factor anymore, it'd make a lot more sense. Because who do we really have to take over...

Emma? Xavier? Magneto?

MAYBE Logan would still take orders from Xavier, but the others? Suddenly his breaking off makes a lot more sense.

Of course, I'd have mixed feelings about this, as Cyclops is my favorite X-Man, but on the other hand, it would be really interesting to see how this would fuck up the entire team(s). Besides, he's not just A Summers, he's THE Summers. He'll be back.

So I'm not sure if I hope I'm right or not (statistics show I'm completely wrong), but it should be interesting either way. :-)

Concluding a Challenge

2011-08-12T23:16:00.003-04:00

So anyway, I sort of won my personal challenge, having read 33 Xanth books in a row and not completely succumbed to puns. The "sort of" comes from the fact that there IS a 34th book, but I don't actually own it yet. (My local bookstore doesn't have it) and I can't just...not read any book at all while waiting for a copy to arrive!

So yeah. I guess I technically lost, but you can be the judge.

It was fun. Xanth has its flaws as a series (I still don't know how to react to T wo to the Fifth, to be honest), but it's a vivid world populated by likeable characters, amusingly intricate continuity, and books that build off what came before.

It would be very strange to pick up one of the later books and try to follow it without having read any of the ones before. Maybe not impossible, but I know I'd get confused!

So anyway, I've made worse personal challenges to myself, so I don't regret it! :-)

Schism: Still Pretty Interesting

2011-08-11T23:29:00.005-04:00

I finally caught up to Schism. I'm enjoying it, certainly (I have no idea where it's going, actually. I was expecting a lot more of a visible rift between the characters, but right now I'm not seeing it at all. Tension, sure, but no more than usual. Yet.)

I kind of dig the way Frank Cho makes Scott look both anorexic and all of 18.

He looks like someone stretched him on a rack. And even if you doubled him up, he probably wouldn't equal Wolverine's mass.

You'd think Emma could take some time out from her exquisitely sarcastic rejoinders to make that boy eat, y'know.

Oooooo

2011-08-10T23:02:00.002-04:00

Okay, THIS intrigues me.

I'm sure it won't be what it looks like, but I actually find the idea of a Storm-Cyclops relationship really interesting.

Of course, as much as he's my favorite X-Men, I freely admit, he's kind of terrible in the relationship sense. Storm could certainly do better. (And it'd be weird for her to go after one of her best friend's widower anyway...)

On the other hand, she'd be like the first girlfriend he's ever had who doesn't echo qualities of at least one of his abusive telepathic father figures. So hey, an almost healthy option!

Well, except that the cover kind of has a sort of weird brother-sister kissing effect on me. Kind of "They're both hot, but..." But depending on context, I could get over that.

On a tangent though: Did they shrink Scott over the years? Because he looks about the same height as Storm there, and I thought he was supposed to be a lot taller. Oh well. Still hot. :-P

Something Else for the List

2011-08-09T23:45:00.001-04:00

This Complete Flash Gordon thing is totally going on my list of "things to buy if/when I ever have like actual disposable income."

I've always wanted to read more Flash Gordon, and well, dude. It looks pretty awesome. And it's always fun to see how something began. :-)

A Notion

2011-08-08T23:23:00.002-04:00

You know what crossover meeting I always thought would be interesting? Selina Kyle and Remy LeBeau.

I mean, I don't even LIKE Gambit, but it'd be fun to see them competing to steal shit. Or teaming up. They'd probably do it, but I'm twelve and it would amuse me either way. :-)

Ooo

2011-08-07T23:58:00.002-04:00

Ooo, I hadn't seen these images of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman.

She looks pretty good, actually. Not seeing the cat-theme, but that'll probably show up later. I'm still not really sure about the casting choice (she seems a bit too young/sweet to me) but I've been pleasantly surprised before. :-)

I'm not quite as excited for this one as I was for Dark Knight, but it still looks like it could be a lot of fun!

2011-08-06T23:24:00.001-04:00

No post today! I have a guest! Am currently torturing Ragnell with old Batman episodes. Yay!

:-)

2011-08-06T00:54:00.001-04:00

Ooo. Gotta say, I'm kinda digging the new Superman.

I've never seen him in anything (at least I don't remember seeing him in anything) but he's hot, so I'll give him a shot.

I love being shallow.

I don't get it...

2011-08-04T22:50:00.004-04:00

Am I the only one confused by some people responding negatively to the new Ultimate Spider-Man thing?

I mean, okay, I kind of get why some people are unhappy about Laurence Fishburne as Perry White. Since we are talking about a character that's been established for countless decades as a white man of a certain temperament, that's not really Fishburne's general style. Some people aren't comfortable with seeing big changes to the characters they're used too. (Heck, remember the Fantastic Four movies? Poor Jessica Alba was stuck with that terrible ill-suited dye job, and STILL got flack for not "looking right")

It's still pretty dumb to draw conclusions about how a character will change until we see it though. I didn't initially care for Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, but now he's the highlight of every Marvel movie. (And the shot in the post-Cap Avengers promo? With him inside what I assume is the helicarrier? I might have squeaked in joy.) You'd think folk could at least wait for a promo to bitch. :-P

But I can at least somewhat comprehend where that point of view is coming from. But why the heck would anyone have a problem with Miles Morales?

Now granted, I don't read the Ultimate Universe, but as far as I know, Peter Parker is still an annoying white guy. Considering the superhero snuff film Ultimate's been over the last few years, I'm guessing he's not alive anymore. But it's not like he isn't crawling all over the main universe, as white and irritating as ever. Miles Morales seems to be, at least as far as I can tell, a new character who happens to be half-black and half-hispanic and wearing the Spider-mask in Marvel's most prominent alternate universe.

So where is the controversy coming from? It's not like he's the first non-white character to inherit a white character's legacy? It's like thirty years too late for THAT to be news. And it doesn't seem like there's been enough of the character to dislike him for any other reason, yet. (This IS Ultimate Universe after all.)

I really don't understand people sometimes.

(edited to clarify/word choice.)

Personal Challenge Update

2011-08-04T00:12:00.003-04:00

Thank you for the recommendations! You guys are awesome!

As an update: I have made it to book 26 of the Xanth series so far. It's strange, there are series that I like a lot more that I run out of stamina on by the last book and need a break from. But Xanth...I feel like I can go for as long as it takes.

It's just really easy to zip through and then pick up the next one. I'm not going to say I love every book, but I actually think the percentage of books I like vs. books that kind of bored me have stayed steady throughout. (Though I have to admit, his handling of certain social issues is a bit off-putting sometimes.)

(For anyone familiar with the series, if you're curious, the characters I like best are probably King Dor, Grey Murphy, and Forrest Faun. Though I have a soft spot for Justin Tree, Mela Merwoman, Breanna of the Black Wave, and Grundy Golem. I'd imagine this is actually fairly predictable given my tastes. :-P

The only characters that tend to outright annoy me are: Jordan, Threnody, Nimby and Chlorine. Though I could do with seeing a little less of the Mundane folk in general - I don't count Grey or Breanna in that list. It's nice to see they're not all stereotypes, but they're starting to outnumber the actual Xanth characters! Yeesh!)

I'm going to be weirdly sad to reach the most recent book.

Need Recommendations

2011-08-02T22:59:00.002-04:00

I'm currently in the mood for a really bad movie, preferably high fantasy in the most dreadful, cliched, campy or nonsensical manner possible.

So I'm seeking suggestions! What's your favorite awful fantasy movie?

Yep

2011-08-01T21:50:00.003-04:00

I would post today, but I just saw Captain America again and am too busy being all heart-eyes to think much of anything. :-)

It's so great that I'm STILL incoherent about it.

I'm curious about what they'll do with a Doctor Strange movie. At least the special effects should be good. :-P

Thought exercise

2011-07-31T23:25:00.004-04:00

Sometimes I like to take a particular superhero and imagine some kind of random skill or ability or talent that character might have, which has no support what-so-ever in the actual comic book merely because the idea amuses me.

For example, I think Guy Gardner can bake a mean quiche. He doesn't advertize this fact, but if you ever need to save the world with a baked egg dish, he's your man.

I also think Damian Wayne secretly knits. Alfred taught him. He's making a hat.

Can you think of any similar ones? :-)

Query

2011-07-30T22:25:00.001-04:00

Dumb question: but can Tim Drake fly now (I mean, in the reboot)? Because that's the only way I will ever be able to rationalize the feathers without laughing my ass off.

Well, let's be honest, I'll laugh anyway, but at least I'd know there was a purpose.

(At least he didn't mimic Dick's disco collars?)

As Personal Challenges Go...

2011-07-29T23:37:00.002-04:00

Mine is working out pretty well. I've made it to book fourteen so far (I'm a reasonably fast reader when I can find time to sit and enjoy a book) and actually am still enjoying it. I remember liking the second set of nine books better than the first for some reason. (Though I still have a soft spot for Dor and his stupidly awesome power.) I've never been a spectacular judge of quality.

Well, actually, that's inaccurate. I AM a reasonable judge of when a book/tv show/movie is good or bad. It's just that my enjoyment of such things doesn't always correllate to quality. I AM enjoying the series still though. I like puns and gratuitous continuity.

Really, it's probably just because my favorite character gets introduced in book 12, and I'm always a little shallow for my favorites.

I'm thinking that after my stamina gives out for Xanth, I might move onto Discworld, because I've only read sporadic books in the series and always wanted to give it a try. (If you're curious, at the moment my favorite character is Carrot, though that might change once I've read more of the series.)

I'm interested in seeing how much humorous fantasy it will take to rot my brain.

More Reboot Babbling (Which is Probably Repetitive)

2011-07-28T22:47:00.003-04:00

For the record, I think trying to work out anything regarding the DCU reboot timeline is going to be pretty hilarious. It's kind of like trying to figure out how all the X-Men comics can fit within a span of like seventeen years.

Except even better (by which I mean worse), because apparently we get to try to fit like five Robins in like the span of ten years. (Is it wrong to wish that they'd use this to retcon Jason Todd out entirely? I mean, I know it won't happen since there's Red Hood and the Outlaws, but a girl can always dream. :-P) Of course, I suppose it doesn't have to be that bad. Stephanie's stint was always pretty short. And Jason's really doesn't need to be much longer, so long as it contains the important beats (i.e. being unbalanced and getting murdered).

As long as Barbara Gordon's still older than Dick Grayson, I'm happy. I don't particularly like the pairing, but I like relationships where the girl is older than the guy. She doesn't have to be MUCH older, but I'm going to be sad if she's younger. :-)

Mostly though, I just find the mental leaps I need to make to fit everything together a lot of fun. :-) It doesn't make sense, but if I wanted a hobby that made sense, I wouldn't be reading comics.

2011-07-27T23:43:00.002-04:00

No post today, but I just want to say, the more Lego superhero things I see (like these!), the more I want a Lego Mogo. And Ranx. It'd be AWESOME. :-)

Indeed

2011-07-26T20:03:00.002-04:00

So um, aside from my Xanth novel marathon (I'm into book 9 now, if you're curious. I've come to the conclusion that I think Dor is a much better lead character than Bink, Grundy the Golem's adorable, and I kind of wanted to slap Jordan and Threnody), I've found myself watching a lot of Inspector Gadget on Netflix.

I honestly have no idea why. I think I've just really needed to turn my grey matter OFF.

I think Dr. Claw is Chief Quimby in disguise. :-P

Well, I'm intrigued!

2011-07-25T21:22:00.003-04:00

Apparently, Alan Moore is planning to make a digital comic. Or at least he's thinking about it.

That should be really interesting! And he seems to have interesting ideas about the possibility of the medium in this format. Don't get me wrong, I like reading digital comics when they are standard comic format. And certainly there've been some really interesting things done with webcomics. But I'm curious to see what sort of thing he intends to do with this. It could be really cool.

So I saw Captain America

2011-07-24T19:19:00.002-04:00

It was awesome. Like 'so awesome I actually lack any coherent thought' awesome!

I wanna see it again!!!

A Personal Note...

2011-07-23T23:41:00.002-04:00

Sometimes I issue stupid challenges to myself, just to see if I can do it. Recently, I've challenged myself to read as many of the Xanth books as I can in order, to see how long it will take for my brain to dribble out my ears.

So far I've made it to the fifth book, and I think I'm already starting to dream in puns.

Anyway, I'm not really sure how much my stamina will hold out, but heck, at least it's a way to turn the brain off after work.

Wish me luck?

2011-07-22T23:29:00.002-04:00

No post today, because this week was a bitch and I'm going to crash now. I'm hoping to see Captain America this weekend because it looks pretty awesome.

Has anyone seen it yet? Will I like it? :-) Let me enjoy it vicariously through you!

Poor Superman...

2011-07-21T23:33:00.002-04:00

I was just reading through the October DC solicits again, and a thought struck me. In two separate comics, you have superheros fighting poor Superman. Batman in the JLA, and Supergirl in Supergirl.

What's up with that? I mean I get the whole "Superman is very powerful so beating him is a benchmark of awesomeness" thing. But it's not like either character hasn't gone up against Superman before.

I mean, I get that the JLA is a flashback story, but is there any fan who actually doubts that Batman would think of a way to take out Superman? (I'm a fan who prefers Superman as a character to Batman, Bruce Wayne version at least, but I have no illusions about who'd win that fight. Heck, I always figured that was one of the things Clark liked about him.)

As for Supergirl, well, it seems like a rite of passage for many teen heroes to go up against either Superman alone or the entire Justice League (in the case of teams like the Teen Titans.) Can't we just assume the teenager will win and therefore prove him or herself?

It's an unfair fight anyway. Clark may be more powerful, but unless he's mind controlled or something, he's always going to fight hobbled since he's grown up with the idea that he might kill someone if he wasn't careful. (And when he IS mind-controlled, he's always going to lose through narrative contrivance anyway.) He's certainly not going to go all out against a much younger cousin or his non-metahuman ally.

Eh, I'm sure the comics will be enjoyable anyway, I just think it's an old overused gimmick.

Neat!

2011-07-21T01:42:00.003-04:00

Hey, neat! Here's something I wish I'd known about a little sooner: apparently Dan Didio did a virtual convention panel on Facebook. I HATE the facebook interface for this sort of thing, but what can ya do?

It sounds fairly interesting. Stephanie Brown'll be still around somehow (I have my theories, but who knows). I don't particularly care about the character but I know a lot of people who are fans of hers, so I'm glad for them. :-)

I'm still sad about the JSA "resting", but well, honestly, I kind of figured my favorite character would go back in limbo after JSA: All-Stars, so I am kind of resigned. I've consoled myself in the fact that other favorites are accounted for. :-)

A Panel or Two

2011-07-19T23:24:00.006-04:00

I'm still too lazy to actually post, but as it turns out NOT too lazy to mock Dick Grayson. (Hey, I may LIKE the guy now, but that doesn't mean I don't find him ridiculous. I just, apparently, find ridiculous endearing.)

I mentioned these panels in a previous post, but hadn't decided to scan/post them. I figured I'd remedy that. From Nightwing #91:

I'm a horrible horrible person, but I find these panels kind of hilarious. There's just something so melodramatic about the whole situation! I mean, it make sense in that in as much as I'm sure Nightwing has like 800 superhero friends whose couch he can crash on, he probably does want to stay in town and actually resolve this whole deal. But really, Dick, you can't check into a Motel 6 or something? (Alfred brought clothes after all, I'm pretty sure he could bring a credit card!)

I suppose a motel 6 wouldn't be nearly as dramatic as sleeping curled up in full costume under newspapers on a fire escape though.

I still think the funniest part would be Damian's reaction if he ever knew about it.

In the end, I think this epitomizes why I actually do like the character, possibly even best of the Bat-family, (Oh, it still makes me grind my teeth to say that!). Reading through Nightwing issues, I found the character's state to be perfectly believable (though I found some of the events a tad contrived) at the time. The melodramatic angst made perfect sense and fit the character.

But Dick Grayson of 2011 is in such a completely different place physically, mentally, emotionally, and in terms of his relationship to the Bat-family, that this entire plot seems very unlikely to ever happen again. And it's not really like you can point to one single catalyst for change either. The character has grown a lot, even organically, over the last five (real-time!) years. That's not too shabby for a character that's 71 years old!

So I can enjoy the panels for two reasons, really. But mostly I enjoy the near-Dickensian level of melodrama.

Interruption in Posting Schedule...or is it?

2011-07-18T23:37:00.002-04:00

I would have a post today, but um, I was kind of busy playing Portal. It's terribly addictive, even if I'm pretty much dreadful at it. :-)

So. Um. Yeah. The novelty should wear off soon. :-)

Mmm Hmm.

2011-07-17T23:48:00.002-04:00

Okay, I have to ask. Is it a collective rule that in the DC-reboot universe, almost everyone must have terrible terrible costumes?

I mean, I've already reacted to the Red Robin monstrosity (I mean, when Dick Grayson is NOT the worst dressed of the batfolk, someone's screwed up somewhere.) The lack of red panties somehow makes Superman look even sillier.

And of course, there's Kory and her power pasties (random Flesh Gordon reference, FTW!).

I'm not against superheroes changing their clothes once in a while, but I'm not used to seeing so many stupid outfits at once. It's why I don't particularly care if Diana does or doesn't wear pants, since neither of her costumes have bird feathers (seriously, Tim, leave that for the circus star. He can't pull it off either, but at least he's old enough that I don't feel bad about making "it would look a lot better on a bedroom floor" cracks) or look like something out of a seventies soft-core porn superhero parody.

I'm sure sanity will win out in the end but right now I'm pretty amused. :-)

A Passing Thought

2011-07-16T23:55:00.002-04:00

I actually find myself enjoying Devin Grayson's Nightwing run a lot more this time around than I did when I initially read it. I mean, there are still parts that I'm not a fan of, and I don't particularly care for her pacing (I think she's got the opposite problem that I sometimes have with Geoff Johns. With Johns, it's like he won't tell a story in two issues if he can tell it in nine. With Grayson, I think she shoves so much into two or three issues that there's simply no time to breathe or process it.)

I think it's the fact that I can read it all at once now, and it doesn't feel like quite as much "Let's keep piling angst up until the character's ground into comedically overwrought dust" as it did when reading the issues separately. It ends up reading just like a single set of events.

There are some completely laughably ridiculous parts (Like Dick sleeping on the fire escape under newspapers, I mean, I bought that as an in character decision, but oh my GOD! I laughed so hard) but in general, it's less of an angst overload that way.

It also probably helps that it comes to a resolution. (I thought the pre-Infinite Crisis scene with Batman was really good. I was less happy with the proposal to Barbara, but then I'm not a fan of the pairing. :-) I also wanted a bit more resolution with Tarantula, but her getting carted off to jail was pretty satisfying.) And it probably helps that the character is in a much better place now.

...I can only imagine what Damian's reaction to the fire escape melodrama would be though. Hee. Newspapers man. It was like something out of Dickens!

Okay, I'm done now and going to sleep.

Meme: an epilogue

2011-07-15T23:43:00.002-04:00

So apparently a set of questions slipped in without me noticing them. So I figured I might as well answer them. The main set of meme answers (and character list) is here.

D asks:

1 and 4: who would win in a strip pogo contest?

Guy, of course. Alan's too dignified to pull off the pogo, I suspect.

1,5,6,9, and 8 form Voltron. Who forms the head, the arms, and the legs?

Hmm. Guy, Lois, Aunt Harriet, Lion-O and Hank Pym.

Well, hmm. Hank Pym's probably smartest, but he's crazy, so let's go with Lois as the head. Aunt Harriet can take Allura's place because she's probably least qualified to actually pilot a lion. (So. Leg). Hank Pym'sd a tech guy like Pidge (and can be small), so he can be an arm, like Pidge. Lion-O, as a swordsman, can be the other arm. Guy, being a bruiser, can be the second leg.

would 4 ever choke on a black seed of vengence?

Alan Scott's too awesome to choke.

a well built go-go dancer is trying to run 7 over with a sports car. What does 7 do?

Hmm, well, the go-go dancer's going to find herself genetically altered. Just saying.

--

:-) And NOW, we're complete! Yay.

A Meme, A Meme

2011-07-14T22:15:00.005-04:00

And now...a meme!

Here is my list of characters!

1) Guy Gardner (DC)
2) Dick Grayson (DC)
3) Cassandra Cain (DC)
4) Alan Scott (DC)
5) Lois Lane (DC)
6) Aunt Harriet (Batman the TV show)
7) Moira MacTaggart (Marvel)
8) Hank Pym (Marvel)
9) Lion-O (Thundercats)
10) Princess Allura (Voltron, 80s version)

A heavy DC edition this time! This should be fun. So...let's begin!

Seangreyson asks:

1,2,4,6,9 and 10 are all close friends. 4 and 6 just broke up. 6 invites 1, 2, 9 and 10 to go on a ski trip at a cabin on Hoth, but specifically excludes 4.

Who would go on the ski trip with 6 and who would stay home with 4?

Hmm, we have Guy, Dick, Alan, Aunt Harriet, Lion-O and Princess Allura.

Well, as terrifying as I find the thought of Alan Scott and Aunt Harriet, I am amused that they are sort of age appropriate.

I suspect Guy would go, because ski trips rock, and there's always the chance to go punch yeti. Dick will have to go, because even if they are not the same medium, she's still his aunt. He'd totally angst about being a bad friend though, because that's what he does. Lion-O is kind of shallow and self-centered, so he'd go, and then have an eye-opening experience where he learns that being a loyal friend is better than transitory pleasures (complete with lecture from Tigra or Cheetara, heh). Princess Allura is a nice girl and probably too busy risking her life, as sole governing figure of her planet, to come along.

If the space ship they're traveling on breaks down in an isolated part of the galaxy, would 4 come rescue them?

Of course he would, he's Alan Scott. He'd totally stare at them with the weight of his disapproving glare while he did though. And Dick would angst about needing to be rescued in space.

Willow-Bee the Cat asks:

1 and 10 take over the planet Earth. How and why? Were they under mind control or just bored one day? How were they successful when so many others weren't?

Hmm, Guy and Princess Allura. To be honest, I don't really see that working out. They were probably under mind control, but it's always possible that Guy just got bored. They're successful because the Princess is likeable and charming, and Guy punches anyone who gets in the way.

It falls apart as soon as Guy says something obnoxious enough to the Princess that it breaks her out of her trance. I give it about ten minutes.

5 and 7 are the only ones left who can save Earth from 1 and 10's possibly nefarious rule. Why are they the only ones who are left to oppose 1 and 10 (or possibly the only ones who care enough to free earth)? Do they succeed? Do they fail? Or do 1 and 10 convince them to join the figurative Dark Side?

Lois Lane and Moira McTaggart. They're probably the only ones left because they have no superpowers and because they're awesome. They succeed through the power of bad publicity.

2 and 4 accidnetally get married in Las Vegas. What happens next? Do they go straight for the divorce or do they even consider trying to make it work.

Well, they do have something in common, being Gothamite heroes. But Alan's no cradle robber. They'd stay married just long enough for Bruce to find out and disapprove strongly. Alan might awkwardly offer to introduce Dick to Obsidian.

Dick would angst about his (third?) failure at marriage. Heh.

3 has gone too far and 9 must reign 3 in before it's too late. What did 3 do and why? And why is 9 the one to attempt to bring 3 to their senses rather than somebody else?

Cassandra Cain and Lion-O. That's an awkward combination. Especially since Lion-O's not really that...competent? I mean, let's face it, Tigra and Panthro do most of the actual WORK on that team. The only reason Lion-O's useful at all is that sword.

Maybe that's it. Mumm-Ra possesses Cass, and Lion-O does that Thundercats HOOOOO! thing and deprograms her. It's the only possible solution, because dude. She'd whip his ASS.

6 ends up stuck with a baby (through a one night stand? a baby on the doorstep? cousin's sisster's stepaunt's kid they're watching as a favor?)and 8 steps in to help. Did 6 call 8 in desperation? Did 8 see the car wreck of a situation coming and step in to help before anybody got hurt? What sort of misadventures do 6 and 8 have in the world of childcare? What happens when the baby gets sent to whichever responsible abult after a couple weeks? Or, what do they do if they end up keeping and raising the child?

Okay, well. Aunt Harriet and a baby is not as comedic as some. Hank Pym helping to raise it though, comedy gold. I'm not sure why Hank would step in, unless the baby is possibly one of Ultron's. (He somehow managed Victor after all, and Vision's fathered children, kinda. So it could happen?)

Aunt Harriet will do a good enough job (and she'll have Alfred to help), though I'm sure there will be occasional shrinking and-or killer robot relative hijinx thanks to Hank. I'm not sure she'll keep the child or not, but I know one thing. She's not letting Bruce drag THIS one god knows where to go "fishing!"

1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 end up on the reality show the Bachelor with Batman as the bachelor (some sort of superhero themed season?) What happens?

Okay, so Guy, Dick, Cass, Alan and Lois. Um. Awk-ward. I'm assuming we're talking about Bruce-as-Batman here, anyway. Well. Yeah. I think Lois wins by default. Not so much because she's a woman as the fact that she's neither spiritually or legally related to him, old and metahuman, or Guy Gardner. She's probably doing it to make Clark jealous anyway, so it wouldn't go anywhere.

But at least he wouldn't have to date Guy Gardner.

Dick would probably angst about the whole thing.

6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 attend some sort of charity bachelor auction and pool their resources to buy a date with Captain America. And good old Steve, being the sort of man he is decides to give each of them a seperate date rather than make them go on a group date with him. How do the dates go? Does anybody go back for a second (or maybe third) date?

Aw. Steve. <3 Okay, so we're looking at Aunt Harriet, Moira, Hank Pym, Lion-O, and Princess Allura. I think the dates will go okay, actually. For Aunt Harriet, he'll take her to a nice formal tea, and maybe an art gallery. For Moira, he'll let her examine his super-serumed blood, and maybe go out for coffee. For Hank, he'll probably end up punching Ultron (though to be honest, I'm not sure Hank would notice that it's not a standard old-school Avengers meeting), he and Lion-O would go adventuring, while he might help Princess Allura train, and then have a nice meal discussing the ins and outs of governmental responsibility. Everyone would come back for a second date, man. It's CAPTAIN AMERICA.

Finally, 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 are playing capture the flag against 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. What happens?

Hmm. Guy, Cass, Lois, Moira and Lion-O against Dick, Alan, Aunt Harriet, Hank Pym, and Princess Allura.

You know, honestly? I'm not sure WHO would win this line up. It would be kind of awesome though. I think I'd give the edge to team 2, if only because team 1 doesn't really have any full on strategists.

I like to think they pair off for fights. Guy vs. Alan (I love Guy, but I suspect Alan would take him. He's awesome that way.) Cass vs. Dick (Cass would win) for the others, I'd probably pair Aunt Harriet with Lion-O. She'd win, because he's a little boy at heart.

Hank will probably shrink himself or someone else to get passed Team 1's defense and that'll be how they actually win. Guy would enjoy all the childish size jokes he could make. And Dick will angst about how Batman would plan it better. Heh.

D asks:

The Misfits are holding audtions. 1,2,3,4, and 5 try out. Who makes the cut and what instrument do they play?

Hmm: Guy, Dick, Cass, Alan, and Lois. Well, I think Guy and Lois could definitely pull off the bitchy attitude. I imagine Lois would sing and Guy would be on the keyboards. He just seems to be a keyboard kinda guy.

Cass is probably too nice, and there is the whole not really prone to talking thing, and Alan's probably a little too old for the target audience. (He could maybe provide special effects.)

Dick could probably make the cut, since every band needs eye-candy. (And I think in my spree of Grayson-reading, I saw something about a guitar). He'd still angst about it.

Uh-oj, it was Reed's turn to cook dinner and the rest of the FF came down with food posioning. 1 through 10, who does get to replace the team?

Eek. Well. We need team players used to a family type environment, and a variety of abilities. I guess I'll go with:

Guy - he's mouthy, and used to antagonistic siblingy relationships, and GL energy's a good substitute for forcefields.
Dick and Cass - The Batclan's a less...functional family, but it still works. No powers, but she's a ninja, he's an acrobat (and therefore somewhat flexible!), and every team needs an angst factory.
Lion-O can round out the team. He's a kid at heart, but he does at least have a nifty sword?

2 is scouted by the Avengers, HAMMER, and the Runaways. Which team do they join?

Hmm. Well. The Runaways would be awesome, but he's too old, and he'd probably be too positive an older influence, so that's out. Hammer would not suit him. So probably Avengers. He's done the JLA thing, so it shouldn't be too much of a stretch.

Sally Floyd tells 3 they are a bad American because they don't use Facebook. The rebuttal?

Cassandra's a nice girl, so she'd probably just walk away. But I like the thought of Sally doing it when Cass is all crazy Navajo-reading assassin, so she gets punched in the throat. Heh.

kiragecko asks:

2 and 4 find they have an alternate reality baby. Who do they get to babysit? How messed up is that poor child going to grow up to be?

Wow, you guys really like 'shipping Dick and Alan don't you? Well, Alan's kids are a bit screwed up, but he didn't actually get to raise them. Dick's pretty good with Damian (and even Tim probably would have been a lot more fucked up without Dick around), and Alfred would help, so the kid actually has a fighting chance of growing up sane(ish).

As long as he keeps it away from Bruce.

10 finds 6 and 8 happily shopping for clothes. Is 10 immediately checking them for robotic off switches/mind control devices or is this completely normal?

Princess Allura catches Aunt Harriet and Hank Pym shopping for clothes. I think that'd probably be fairly normal. Well at least for Aunt Harriet. But even crazy Hank Pym needs a new labcoat once in a while.

D asks:

3 wakes up between 9 and 6. 3's response?

Cassandra wakes up between Lion-O and Aunt Harriet. That seems like a very unlikely set of events. I suspect she'd get her bearings, and after determining that neither are a threat, she'd roll over and go back to sleep.

4 is offered a chance to direct a movie based on an 80's cartoon. Which one do they pick?

Hmm. Alan Scott's an interesting choice for this one. I'm not really sure what I think he'll go with. Maybe Smurfs, since they have good community values. Alan always seemed like the sort of guy who'd appreciate that kind of thing.

who would be better 10 playing 6 or 6 playing 10?

Princess Allura or Aunt Harriet. Well, I think comedically, Aunt Harriet piloting the Blue Lion has some potential, but for practical purposes, I suspect Princess Allura would have an easier time with Harriet's domestic skills than vice versa.

Jeff R asks:

3 and 7 swap bodies, but have to try to keep this secret. Which of the others is the first to figure it out?

Hmm, Cassandra Cain and Moira McTaggart. I suspect that secret won't last very long at all. I'd go with Lois figuring it out first though, she IS a reporter after all. Just hope neither of them puts on a pair of glasses. :-P

2, 5, and 10 are the last three people alive on Earth. Is humanity doomed? (Assume that there is a silver-age gender-swapping device available to them at need.)

Dick, Lois and Allura. I think they'd manage. I'm not 100% sure Allura's human, so they might not be compatible, but I think Dick and Lois could make something work. (He does seem to have a thing for bossy older women after all.) He might be a bit young for her, but he is pretty at least.

And she could yell at him when he starts to angst!

Bizarro versions of 1 and 4 are created, and immediately get into a fight with each other. What's the fight about?

Bizarro Guy vs. Bizarro Alan Scott. Hmm. Are we sure Bizarro Guy's not a pacifist?

Allowing for the premise, I'm going with...cupcakes.

6 and 8 use a time-viewer to look at the time when they were small children, and are suprirsed to see both younger versions together. What are they doing?

Okay, for some reason this meme seems intent on having Aunt Harriet and Hank Pym as BFFs. That's weirdly awesome to me. I suspect they're working together to design a robot who's capable of cooking and watching children.

Dude, that's the real story of Ultron's creation.

SallyP asks:

2 and 8 have inexplicably become addicted to television cooking shows, and insist on making home-made flan. 1,3 and 5 hate flan, and insist on creme brulee instead. Who gets hit in the head with the flan and who gets burned by the brulee torch?

Hmm. Dick and Hank want to make flan. Guy, Cass and Lois hate flan.

Dick gets burned by the torch, because he seems to get injured ALL THE TIME in his comic. And pretty much every crossover event ever.

Since Hal Jordan isn't here, I guess Guy gets the blow to the head. Hal had better never hear about it. Heh.

D asks:

7 has to cook a surprise cake for 3. what kind of job do they do, and what kind of cake it is?

Hmm. Moira makes a cake for Cass. She'll do a good job, of course. And it'll be chocolate. It's not a funny answer, but the poor girl deserves a cake for once.

4 has been given lemons. What do they do with them?

He makes lemonade. Awesomely.

8 decides to Inc. him/her self and open franchises across the globe. 1 through 10 are picked. What countries are they assigned?

Hmm, which Inc. are we talking here? Ant-Man? Giant-Man? Maker of homicidal robots?

Do planets count? If not, then I'll go:

Guy: France. Because Guy vs. stereotypical french people sounds really amusing
Dick: Maybe somewhere in Eastern Europe? He can always trace his heritage at the same time.
Cass: Hong Kong, considering she's already kinda doing that already.
Alan: I'd never make Alan be anywhere but America, man.
Lois: Themyscira. She's been there before after all! If that doesn't count then maybe Australia. I always thought Lois would enjoy Australia.
Aunt Harriet: England, she and Alfred could go for a trip.
Moira: Scotland! Duh!
Lion-O: Kenya? There are lions in Kenya, right?
Princess Allura: Since she's bastardized Japanese animation, might as well send her to Japan. Heh.

10 is removed from history and everything sucks for some reason. How is 2 different, and do they try to restore the world?

Um. Hmm. This one doesn't really work, does it? Seeing as how she's from a future setting on another planet. But allowing for a strange butterfly effect (one of her mice travels through time and causes the bat to fly in front of Bruce's window)...

He'd probably have still been an orphan, but Bruce might not have seen the bat, and therefore might have gone with THERAPY instead of craziness. So Dick, if he did get adopted, would have a chance at an actually sane upbringing.

Sadly, he'd probably change it back. And angst about it.

5 find a big hammer. What does 5 do with it?

Oh, Lois would have FUN.

D asks:

An utterly insane man has just been appointed to run a top secret spy group, despite being a felon. What does 7 do about it?

Moira McTaggart would not take that lying down. She has a laboratory and she's not afraid to use it.

An old woman is dying and 6 is offered a chance to save her if 6 will agree to give their marriage/relationship. Do they take the offer?

Let's be fair, even as dithery as she is, Aunt Harriet is much too smart for that.

4 VS exploding kolas. Who wins?

Alan doesn't take shit from exploding koalas, man. Ever.

Punk version: it's 4 in the morning. Where is 3?

On patrol. Duh.

Does 9 dreaming dreams of a life of crime? Does it it include smoking, drinking, acting cool?

He's mentally a ten year old boy, so totally man.

would 2 treat 10 like a fool?

Nah, Dick's pretty good with women. He'd probably hit on her, but he'd be nice about it.

For most of the time, would 1 stay on his/her own?

Nah, Guy is a social animal. If nothing else, he'll go annoy Hal.

D also brings a Ramones version:

Can 1 get to Rockaway Beach?

Of course, man!

Jackie and Judy both got cut for cutting now they're going to summer school. 2's response?

He would angst, of course!

what does 3 want?

A pony?

A new principal has just banned rock and roll. How does 4 overcome her, and is the school blown up by the end?

Alan never struck me as the pro-Rock and Roll type. But he IS a Lantern, so shit probably will go down.

did someone put something in 5's drink?

God help them if they did.

is 6 going to get psycho therapy? (and the previous post, the marriage is given up/erased)

Aunt Harriet is sane enough to know when she needs help, so yes.

is 7 howling at the moon? Did they take the law and throw it away?

No and yes.

does 8 remember rock and roll radio?

The man invented Ultron, what do you think?

is 9 a substitute for another guy?

Only in my heart.

Does 10 look pretty tall? What is 10's fine looking suit really made out of?

Yes. Mice hair. That's why she lets them stay around.

D asks:

A madman in a blue box appears out of nowhere. Does 2 go with him?

Dick's spent his entire teenaged and adult life following a crazy man dressed like a bat. He'll go in that box and like it damnit. And angst.

Ununnilium asks:

8 and 6 take a trip back to the '80s and join a famous rock band of the era. Which one? Which character plays their music backwards in the present day and hears the secret message saying how to rescue them?

Hee, Hank Pym and Aunt Harriet again! I would totally read a comic about them. That said, I've no idea what rock band they'd be good with. Was Genesis in the 80s?

I'll go with Guy playing the music backwards. Not intentionally, just to annoy everyone else. Dick'll be the one to hear the message and rescue his AU aunt.

How much wood could 7 chuck if 7 could chuck wood?

Moira could chuck a chuck of wood if Moira could chuck wood.

2 and 5's kid from the future travels back to stop some evil force. What are they like in personality, looks, and powers?

Dick and Lois's kid. Huh. Well, probably no powers. But with Dick's looks, Lois's attitude, and Bat-connections, that kid would be pretty badass. Just saying.

10 rescues 8 and 6, but overshoots on the way back and becomes an honorary member of the Silver Age Legion of Superheroes. What is his code name, and who does he hook up with?

Hmm. Princess Allura in the Legion of Superheroes. Most of the Legion names are pretty standard. So it'd be something Girl. Maybe Robot-Lion Girl? It doesn't sound any stupider than Matter-Eater Lad.

1 and 3 get Amalgamated by Dark Access. What's the resultant character like?

Awesome.

4 and 9 go on a date. Which restaurant for dinner, which movie, and do they do anything afterwards?

Um. Alan Scott and Lion-O. Well, Alan's not really snooty, and Lion-O's a ten year old boy in the body of a giant lion man. So I'm going with Bennigans, the Lion King, and a trip to the zoo.

And we are done! I hope you enjoyed. Personally, I still think the crossover adventures of Hank Pym and Aunt Harriet would be the best thing ever!

Good night!

2011-07-13T22:37:00.001-04:00

As semi-predicted, there is a severe lack of energy today. :-) I should never give myself an out.

Good night!

2011-07-12T23:38:00.002-04:00

Okay, so barring a sincere lack of energy tomorrow night, tonight's the last night for my meme. So get your questions in! Or I'll cry!

On a personal note, I've discovered that I should never give my cat catnip, since it apparently ends with her trying to make sweet love to my lamp.

That must have been one hell of a trip.

Miscellaneous, disoriented solicit babble.

2011-07-11T22:57:00.004-04:00

So, anyway, the meme is still going on, so please ask your questions. :-)

On the plus side, some of the solicits are up!

Okay, I'm really confused as to how much of the Bat-stories have been retconned out or not. Since I've been spending a lot of time rereading lately, I feel oddly emotionally involved in this answer darnit.

I mean, Nightwing #1's solicit referenced his time as Batman, but Nightwing #2 says something about his "new life as a Super Hero". Even though Batman #2 does say Bruce's "back in the cowl".

Actually, I'm probably being silly, since it's highly unlikely that they'll have written out Dick Grayson's time as Robin. Not if they're trying to make the DCU accessible (ask most non-comic fans who Robin is...). It's probably just a weird cut off point for "old" vs "new". But it's still weird!

The solicits did remind me of a thought I had about Helena Bertinelli. Helena is a character I've always wanted to like, but too often I get tripped up with things that don't make sense to me. For example, any storyline that starts going into Helena as the prodigal daughter of the Batclan doesn't really work for me, because I don't understand the basis for Helena and Bruce having any sort of father-daughter relationship.

I mean, don't get me wrong. Daddy issues are one of the things that amuse the hell out of me during this go round of reading Bat-comics. But with the other characters: Dick, Jason, Tim, Cass...probably Damian I think there is merit. I don't understand why Helena CARES what Bruce thinks of her.

Though it occurred to me, there is a really easier solution that would smooth that out for me. If it got revealed that on some point during his time travel (I don't really understand how it worked anyway), Bruce Wayne knocked up Ms. Bertinelli. Then at least the father-daughter thing would make a little bit of sense, at least on a subconscious level.

It may just be that I'd get a kick out of seeing Damian and Helena as siblings. Heh.

The Batman and Robin solicit makes me a little nervous. I love Damian, but it seems like Bruce just now noticing that his kid's a little uber violent is a sign of trouble. If he fires that kid, and Damian thereupon turns evil or something, I'm going to really be pissed off. Things had been going so well with Dick and Damian, and Dick was actually getting the kid under control! If Bruce ruins that, I'm gonna be upset! (Though if it leads to the kid getting shipped back to Nightwing, I'm all for that! :-P) It's one of those things where I have to hold off until I see it, I suppose. But my hackles! They are raised!

Bruce better not fuck up THIS kid, damnit. LEARN from your mistakes, boy! :-P

So anyway, yeah! Meme! Go ask questions!

2011-07-11T01:16:00.001-04:00

As a reminder, I have that meme going on, so feel free to ask your questions.

While you do that, may I direct you to today's favorite site: Quotes from the Batman tv show.

They are wonderful! <3

Laziness reigns supreme:

2011-07-09T23:56:00.000-04:00

So anyway, I can't think of a post. So I was wondering if I were to do another one of those ten character memes, would anyone take part?

The rules are simple. I make a list of ten characters which I keep secret. You ask me questions like "If 4 and 5 had a strip pogo contest, who would win?" And I would give you hopefully amusing answers, via my list.

So anyway, please give it a shot!

Something else I've noticed from 1960s Batman:

2011-07-08T23:57:00.000-04:00

Reassuringly, Batman still appears to be a terrible father, even in the 60s show.

Okay, first there are the constant lies to Dick's sole adult relative (Lesson for kids: "If a grown man wants you to lie about your location to your relatives, totally go with it because he's probably a superhero!")

But I think the best bit, so far, was in an episode where the Joker was messing with "Woodrow Roosevelt High School" (love the name. :-P) Batman's called in and speaks to the school administrator and decides he wants to speak to students and asks "Who's the student council president?"

The answer of course: "Richard Grayson".

Now, it could just be Batman playing dumb (it'd be smart to, but when does the series do the smart thing) but just for a second, Bruce looks legitimately surprised.

How do you not know your kid is student council president?

Batman is still a bad father. Oddly, my faith in the world is restored.

A Rant Much Belated

2011-07-07T23:14:00.006-04:00

So anyway, still doing the reading Batman comics and not hating Nightwing thing...it's a strange novelty for me still. I mean, the guy's still pretty much a tool, but somehow the gratuitous angst has become endearing. I'm all "Aw, you think you're a failure! Izznt that cute?"

Weird.

Anyway though, this has had the added advantage of getting me to read stuff I haven't read in years for a new perspective. One of the things I read was the trade paperback of Contagion. I liked Contagion overall, despite the crappiness of Dick's mullet and Selina's Balent-era costume. I liked the plot and the way the characters were utilized in finding the cure and so on. And I always like the "OMG! ONE OF THE TEAM IS NOW AT RISK!!" type development.

I do have an issue with the storyline though, pun unintended.

At the end of the story, after the cure's been found/turned in. Nightwing (who I still don't hate, terrible mullet and physics defying ponytail aside. Have they ever explained how a shoulder-length mullet becomes an ass-length ninja ponytail? Because I kind of think the fact that he wore that the first few times I'd encountered the character might have been a factor in how I hated him) comes back to the Batcave. Robin, who had gotten sick earlier is suddenly gone from the sick bed and Alfred's looking sad and grave.

Fortunately, he doesn't have time to go into "Oh my god! I WASN'T IN TIME! I FAILED!" angst (aw!) before "Gotcha! :D" Tim appears, and is all better to boot. Dick is pissed off for all of ten seconds and then gets over it:

Now, I'm not really against inappropriate or dark pranks. I'm not necessarily against the idea of Alfred as a prankster (since well, you gotta find someway to keep your humor in that job) but JESUS CHRIST man. Alfred is the SANE person in the Batclan. The sane person who is probably closest to Dick. Saw a frantic Dick carry Tim into the cave. Spent all that time at Tim's bedside to worry.

And somehow ALFRED thinks it's okay to make the guy think his spiritual kid brother is dead?! REALLY?! I could buy the prank from Tim, who doesn't necessarily understand how scared they were, or Bruce, who has the emotional sensitivity of my left nutsack. Which is especially impressive as I'm a girl. But ALFRED?!

I honestly think this is an out of character moment worse than Dick either wondering what the point in saving Damian is in Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul, Leslie Thompkins (since retconned) letting a kid die to prove a point, or Hal Jordan not being an egotistical fuck-up.

It's ALFRED man. Jeez.

That's it, I'm officially slotting Dick in my Scott Summers category of "So um, you never had a CHANCE to be not-fucked up, did you?" Poor wangsty kid.

Indeed

2011-07-06T23:55:00.002-04:00

My favorite aspect of the old Batman tv show is, I think, the "Anti-theft button" in the Batmobile. Mostly because I think it's either stupid or genius, and I can't quite figure out which.

How it works is basically, it's on the dash and helpfully labeled "anti-theft button" (everything in Batman is helpfully labeled). To "activate", either Batman or Robin flips down a NEW helpful label which says "start button". The would-be thieves press the button, and there's a light show.

I suppose ultimately, it's genius because everyone knows that crazy people can't resist big red buttons. So there we go. Even if they DO wonder why the start button would be so helpfully labeled, they can't resist the button.

I want one!

No post!

2011-07-05T22:46:00.003-04:00

So, I finally took my computer in to Best Buy for fixing, it's pretty cool though because my protection plan thing hasn't run out yet.

Actually, it runs out on July 12, so, yeah. It's my special talent. I always break my computers RIGHT before the warranty expires. :-)

I ALWAYS buy the extended warranty. ALWAYS.

My cat is weirdly annoyed by the whole thing. She has this weird Cyclops-and-Wolverine like-hate for my computer and she does NOT appreciate me using my much older backup. It's pretty funny actually. My cat is kind of absurdly cute when she's pissed off. :-)

Otherwise nothing of note happened, maybe I'll actually post something relevant tomorrow. :-P Maybe.

What I'd like to see:

2011-07-04T23:37:00.001-04:00

Since it's the 4th of July (Independence Day, if you're American) it occurs to me that I think it'd be really fun to have every single patriotic themed hero, (and ones like Wonder Woman who are dressed patriotically at least) team up in a single book.

It probably would involve punching a resurrected Hitler in the face a lot.

There wouldn't be a lot of plot, but I think it'd be fun anyway. :-)

2011-07-03T23:41:00.001-04:00

So, um, I WOULD have a post today, but I went to an amusement park with the family instead.

It was fun

I am sunburned. :-P

Have a happy Independence Day, if you celebrate it!

An Opinion I Forgot to Express:

2011-07-02T23:14:00.002-04:00

Over the past few weeks, I think I've pretty much covered my opinions about the DCU reboot except one:

Tim Drake's costume looks really freaking stupid.

Like Dick Grayson's disco suit stupid.

I mean, dude. FEATHERS.

Just sayin'.

Hah

2011-07-02T00:37:00.005-04:00

So anyway, in relation to my last post, I've been reading enough recent and older bat comics to notice some interesting patterns.

Remember how, at the end of Infinite Crisis, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson and Tim Drake go off to do some familial bonding? And that's where the three of them are for the majority of the run of 52?

Right before that, Tim's suffered some pretty substantial personal tragedies, which he's in the process of dealing with. While Dick was finally finished crawling out of his personal abyss.*

After the year long trip with Batman? Tim's off cloning Kon and being mad scientist, while Dick's sanctioning torture and teammate prostitution in Africa.

WHAT DID HE DO TO THOSE CHILDREN?!

But then look at them now? Tim's off being Red Robin and while he's been a TAD fixated, he was also right about Bruce not being dead. While Dick is being kind of awesome at Batman.

Cassandra is another example, though less precise. She's apparently been on her own and self-sufficient for like ten years, but then she's spending time with Bruce, she has a deathwish and eventually culminates in leaving/going batshit. Now that she's spent time away from him, she actually seems pretty together again.

I'm just saying. The more time they spend with Batman, the worse they get. Then he dies, and they vastly improve.

Congratulations Bruce, your kids are literally better off when you're dead.

(*Yes, I've heard there was editorial type mixups here, but my interpretation is funnier. :-P)

One thing from rereading old comics:

2011-06-30T23:57:00.001-04:00

Bruce Wayne really is a TERRIBLE father figure, isn't he?

I mean, he's not quite Charles Xavier level bad, but really, at some point the Justice League probably should have taken those kids away from him. I'm just saying!

Fans Are Sometimes More Interesting Than Comics

2011-06-29T23:24:00.003-04:00

I find the planned protest of DC's reboot interesting.

Personally, I'm of the "wait and see" opinion regarding the reboot, (It probably helps that I already know GL isn't changing much, and my other favorite character was probably going to be in limbo anyway.) But I like to see what gets fans motivated. And it'll be interesting to see how it turns out, what it'll look like, and what (if any) effect it'll have.

Damn You Burt Ward! (not really)

2011-06-28T23:34:00.004-04:00

So it's official. I went through back issues and everything and I officially do not hate Dick Grayson anymore.

I'm even actually finding the waves of melodramatic angst kind of...endearing?

It's possibly because I keep hearing all of his dialogue in Burt Ward's voice (I will stop watching this show eventually! Honestly!) and Burt Ward was adorable back then.

It's probably also Cyclops's fault. Back when I was only a DC girl, it was one thing, but after years of splitting my affection between DC and Marvel and my utter joy at Cyclops's wangsty teenaged monologues, well... apparently I've developed a taste for seeing uptight pretty boys whine.

Actually, if you want a real embarrassing admission, I think he might be my favorite of the bat clan*. Because he's ridiculous, and wears stupid clothes, and spends way too much time angsting about not being Batman, failing Batman, not being a good Batman, and so on...

(* At least until I change my mind again. But I always did like the ones that I can mock. :-P)

Also, he spent a period of time dressed in a blue and yellow Elvis costume and actually thought that looked okay. None of these are news to me, but apparently the reasons I've always hated him as a character are the reasons I kind of love him now. And possibly always have.

God damnit, self-awareness sucks.

Because I am always wrong...

2011-06-27T22:26:00.003-04:00

Less than a week after I posted about how I saw the GI Joe movie and wasn't really expecting a sequel, there comes out with news of a sequel.

God will never allow me to be right. About ANYTHING. :-P

That said, I'm totally in.

Heh

2011-06-26T23:19:00.001-04:00

Okay, can I just say?

Somehow Superman's costume doesn't look any less stupid without the red underwear. Good to know.

:-)

2011-06-25T23:59:00.001-04:00

I just thought of a weird question, that I feel like I SHOULD know the answer to but can't quite remember:

Does Aquaman function in fresh water as well as the ocean?

I'm not sure why I don't know this, but I don't, so hopefully one of you guys paid more attention and can fill a gal in.

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-nah!

2011-06-24T23:44:00.002-04:00

So anyway, it might have happened that courtesy of a certain comic book convention, I now have episodes of the 1960s Batman tv show to enjoy.

I might have just watched the first episode. It might just have been awesome, if somewhat poor quality as it was clearly taped off the television, but beggars can't be choosers.

Anyway, I am noticing many more things watching this as an adult. Even though I've only made it through the first two episodes:

1) For such a light hearted show, Batman mentions his dead parents a lot.

2) I finally found a version of Dick Grayson I can actually stand.

2b) In fact, I like him so much that I kind of want to give the comics version (non-Batman version, even!) another chance!

2c) God, I won't know what to do with myself if I stop hating Nightwing!

2d) To be honest, I'd probably just keep making fun of him.

3) 1960s Riddler is kind of creepy

4) The Batman movie wasn't a fluke. Robin is the one who always figures out the Riddler's clues, to the point where Batman, as soon as he realizes there's a joke on the other end, just HANDS the phone to Robin.

5) I like how the Riddler's plan amounted to: 1) Drug Batman, 2) Kidnap Robin, 3) Dress female henchman up as Robin, 4) ...., 5) PROFIT!

5b) Burt Ward actually does a surprisingly good job playing a woman playing himself. His mannerisms and body language are noticeably different.

6) It's fun to see that villains suing superheroes is an idea that was gold even back in the sixties.

6b) As a note, I watched this with a colleague from work, and we started arguing back and forth about whether Batman CAN actually be subject to a lawsuit.

7) Aunt Harriet DOES have a purpose! She's Dick Grayson's aunt. I guess she didn't go into the whole circus thing, but it'd be awesome if she suddenly revealed a talent for acrobatics in a later ep!

8) Batman spends a lot of time lying to her about his and Dick's activities.

9) The Batusi is even awesomer in context.

10) Alfred is awesome, shock!

11) Dick Grayson is probably my favorite character. Damnit, I don't know how to DEAL with this.

New Cap Trailer

2011-06-23T23:25:00.000-04:00

At Newsarama!

...Dude. This movie will be awesome!

You know what I miss?

2011-06-22T23:35:00.002-04:00

Mummies.

There's something innately creepy awesome about Mummies. It's the whole timeless ancient horror thing.

Also, the brain being pulled out through the nose thing. I have issues pertaining to noses.

But really, any sort of wrapped, recently wakened up ancient dead guy is good. Especially if they're in space. Or fighting robots. <3

Bad Movies?

2011-06-21T21:54:00.003-04:00

Are they still going to have a Thundercats movie? It just occurred to me that I haven't heard anything about it in a while. Granted, what I had heard was DREADFUL sounding, but sometimes you just need a dreadful movie.

Speaking of, I finally saw GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra, like I'd meant to ages ago. It was, indeed, endearingly dreadful. I didn't understand the suits at all. The acting was mid-range to terrible. (But Channing Tatum is indeed pretty, so there's that.)

It probably helped that I had only the vaguest memories of the 80s cartoon and never read the comics. So instead of having adaptation-rage, I could just enjoy the terribleness of the movie on its own merits. It's always nice to see Christopher Eccleston having fun with a role.

I gotta admit, I'm not really anticipating a sequel. :-)

No post today

2011-06-20T23:57:00.001-04:00

My computer has decided it hates me, so I'm dealing with that tonight. This may end in a fight to the death.

Wish me luck, I think I can take him.

Triumphant Return!

2011-06-19T22:06:00.002-04:00

So anyway, I had a blast at the convention. I didn't pick up any good gossip, unfortunately, but then I'm not very good at that.

I did get to see Adam West and Burt Ward's panel though and that was awesome. Also Bruce Campbell!

I also discovered that I did not actually hallucinate the existence of "Doctor Mordrid", a terrible movie (or tv movie) that I remember from my childhood. I now have a copy!

So basically my Philadelphia voyage was a success! Yay!

Yay

2011-06-19T00:28:00.001-04:00

So anyway, this post is late because I saw Green Lantern. It was awesome. More on this later. :-)

2011-06-17T23:36:00.001-04:00

So, I made it to Philadelphia! No con yet, but that'll be for tomorrow. Also for tomorrow: Green Lantern.

So anyone who's seen it yet, how is it? Will I like it?

So um...

2011-06-16T22:55:00.002-04:00

I'm actually without a post today. I'm not really sure why. I just am. Work is fun, friend is visiting, and convention starts tomorrow (though technically I'm gonna miss the first day.)

I'm looking forward to all the comic events, but am not finding much blog-worthy. (I'm HIGHLY skeptical of the idea that they might reboot the Clark-Lois marriage. Not that I doubt that they'd be silly enough to decide to. I just doubt that the results will be any better than Spider-Man's retconned marriage.

I'd like to think Clark wouldn't make such a silly deal though.)

So yeah. No post. Gonna goof off instead.

2011-06-15T22:04:00.002-04:00

So anyway, I might have forgotten to mention, but this weekend, my ex-roommate and I are going to the comic convention in Philadelphia! I'm going to miss most of Friday, due to work/travel, but that's still Saturday and Sunday that I'll get to enjoy!

I haven't been to a convention in ages, yay for me!

An Epilogue to a Rant

2011-06-14T23:31:00.001-04:00

Still sad about the whole DCU putting JSA to rest thing. But I am happy to know that they're not being retconned out, and will be used individually.

I hope my favorite shows up somewhere!

But I still am going to miss the books. I hope they bring it/them back soon!

Ooo

2011-06-13T23:25:00.001-04:00

No post today, but this poster looks really cool.

I can't wait for this movie. :-)

bounce

2011-06-12T22:48:00.002-04:00

I don't know if I mentioned, but I'm really really excited about Green Lantern Corps. Mostly for John and Guy being partners.

It's always been interesting to me that despite having read a LOT of Green Lantern comics I can't really recall a lot of times that John and Guy have interacted, just the two of them. They've always seemed to orbit around Hal, simultaneously mentor Kyle, or do their own thing. When they split off, it tends to be one with Hal, one with Kyle. But almost never together.

I'm really looking forward to this. :-) They've got a lot in common after all (if nothing else, playing second fiddle to Hal Jordan's ego ought to make for good bonding). They've both gone through some really weird, mind-shaking experiences. And I'm pretty sure Hal's stolen both of their girlfriends at one point. :-P

So yeah, this should be a lot of fun. :-)

2011-06-12T00:20:00.002-04:00

I was just watching the 1960s Batman movie again and I've decided sharks are vastly underused in comics today.

Sharks are awesome, man. Teeth. Fins. Menace. Nothing beats a shark! And yet, they're too often passed up for the "cooler" badguys like gorillas, dinosaurs and robots!

I love those too, but sharks also deserve some support.

Support our sharks!

Okay, I AM Nervous About THIS:

2011-06-10T22:23:00.000-04:00

They haven't announced anything about the Justice Society.

This makes me very nervous. I love the Justice Society.

I know there are some proponents of having an Earth-2/Earth-1 split again, but that's never worked for me. In my opinion, that completely loses what the Justice Society brings to the table in a modern DCU. An Earth-2 Justice Society is just another alternate universe Justice League, I think. We have PLENTY of alternate universe Justice League of Americas.

But what the Justice Society of America brings to the current DCU is so much more than that. The Justice Society brings history to the table. One of the weaker elements of superhero franchises is that, when not careful, you end up reading and thinking "Can these people do NOTHING without calling Superman/Batman/Miscellaneous Superhero A? How passive are these people? What did they DO before they showed up?"

The Justice Society shows that heroism is timeless. That even before our current guys decided to put on silly spandex, people were still going out there and doing what needs to be done. When you have the Justice Society and the Justice League in the same universe, you get the sense that no matter what era you're looking at, you'll probably find people ready to fight for what's right. The teams become a sample rather than something exclusive.

The Justice Society also brings a sense of perspective. These are the people that the current generation grew up idolizing. These are the heroes' heroes. It humanizes our current heroes too, because it shows that they too have people that they admire and want to follow. It means something for example that, for all that Batman gets really pissy about metahuman activity in Gotham City, he doesn't (to my knowledge anyway) try to pull that shit on Alan Scott.

The Justice Society brings a sense of wider community. The Justice League doesn't have a monopoly on heroism. You don't need to be on the A-list to save people. Groups like the Justice Society, the Teen Titans, and so on, show that there's more to DCU heroism than just the big names, and that they're all doing their own part, banding together and fighting for common causes. Heroism is bigger than just the Justice League.

The Justice Society fills a niche. One thing I've always liked about the modern DCU is how the teams don't really feel redundant. The Justice Society of America had its comic throughout the 2000s, just like the Justice League, but they handled different threats. The Justice League tended to handle the huge threats, the massive invasions, the grandscale things. The Justice Society tended to handle things a bit more street level. The Justice Society encountered magic more often, elder gods, misbehaving genies and the like. Of course sometimes the Justice League had something a bit more low key and the Justice Society had the big dramatic stuff, but in general, each had their role to play. And dude, the crossovers always meant something awesome was going to go down.

The Justice Society shows us that heroism doesn't die with age, or when someone younger comes around. Okay, granted, none of the JSA guys are really as old as they ought to be, but Jay, Ted, Alan, hell even Ma Hunkle show us that the drive to be a hero doesn't fade with time. Heck, Ma Hunkle's the best example since unlike the guys, she IS aging normally and really isn't physically capable of going out with her frying pan and whacking some sense into people. But she still finds her own way to help. Just because her capabilities have changed doesn't mean she has to go off and retire. The Justice Society shows us that there are some heroes that will still continue to act like heroes until they die.

The Justice Society brings a sense of generation. Not all of the team are old fogeys after all. There are children (i.e. Jade, Obsidian, Hourman), proteges grown into their own (i.e. Sand), there are people who were just inspired to take the name of folk they never personally knew and keep their legacy going (i.e. Mr. Terrific or Dr. Mid-Nite.) And this gives us much more fascinating group dynamics in the sense that we have generational gap conflict (young people struggling to prove themselves, old people learning to adapt), family conflict (would YOU want to be on the same team as your dad?), social progression and developing challenges (Consider: Jay, Alan, Ted predate Civil Rights, the Feminist Movement and the Sexual Revolution. Meanwhile, challenges faced by Mr. Terrific today are not the same as challenges faced by say Amazing Man in All Star Squadron.) The Justice Society can explore all of these elements and much much more in a way that the Justice League simply can't.

I'm not against the idea of an Earth-2 Justice Society (period heroism is fun!) but I am against the idea of removing the Justice Society from its place in modern, Earth-1 history. It brings so much more to the table than being yet another superteam, and I think the DCU would be far blander without them.

Miscellaneous Note

2011-06-09T23:54:00.001-04:00

Been rewatching Babylon 5 on Netflix. Now I remember why I always have high hopes when JMS writes a comic. Because when the man is on, he is ON.

I forgot how much I love this show.

...really?

2011-06-08T23:32:00.003-04:00

Okay, as fascinating as I find the weird publication stuff about John Carter of Mars...

I'm mostly preoccupied by the fact that DISNEY is producing the movie. (Other folk probably knew this already, but I somehow missed THAT factoid.) If I wasn't already sure that it was going to suck on account of freaking GAMBIT playing John Carter of Mars (I don't think he's a bad actor, but MAN that's a mismatch on so many levels!) that would not raise my hopes.

I mean, granted, Disney has produced decent films. But the fact that Disney's name is attached so prominently doesn't give me high hopes.

I'm definitely going to check out the Marvel series (and the Dynamite one) though. :-)

Well I have a new appreciation:

2011-06-07T23:54:00.002-04:00

So um, suddenly I have a brand new appreciation for my blog if only because last night, just as I was posting that post, I suddenly get to a page that says my blog is deleted!

Scary!

Obviously it was restored, or you wouldn't be reading this, but MAN. I was so upset when it happened! I'm far fonder of this blog and its five years of collected ludicrous babbling than I ever thought!

I'm glad to be back!

More reactions to spoilers!

2011-06-06T23:33:00.002-04:00

Aw I've got mixed feelings about this one..

On one hand, I'm happy to see Bruce Wayne back where he belongs. Because really, it's only right. But I'm going to miss actually liking Dick Grayson. Batman!Dick Grayson is the only version of the character I've actually been able to stand. And I'm especially going to miss Damian and Dick together. I don't think Bruce and Damian will vibe nearly as well, mostly because I can't see Bruce putting up with Damian's attitude, and that makes me sad.

I think in my ideal DCU, someone else takes over Robin (I have no idea who at this point. I kind of think Tim's moved past it, and certainly he doesn't need to be co-headlining, considering he starred in a Batman-less Robin comic for like fifteen years. Maybe Steph? She might be free now?) and Damian goes off to sidekick for Nightwing as "Blue jay" or something slightly less stupid sounding.

Tangentially, I'm a tad disappointed that Barbara is going to be Batgirl again. It's the name. I know she originated it, but to me "Batgirl" always implies a subordinance to Batman. And much as I legit love Kate Kane, I don't like that "Batwoman" sounds like it outranks "Batgirl." It's irrational but there you go.

That said, I'm holding off judgment, because I'm sure I'll enjoy Barbara as a more field-active superhero again, and I've liked heroes with stupider names that I've gotten past (ahh, little Sandy Hawkins, I love you).

So mostly, I'm interested in seeing what's going on, but like any fan, I'm also whining about what I'll miss. The usual. :-)

(However, all the Green Lantern stuff sounds awesome, so there ya go. :-P)

So?

2011-06-05T23:57:00.003-04:00

So has anyone seen X-Men First Class yet? How is it? I was a bit leery because of the trailer, but apparently the critics like it. I'm also leery of an X-Men line-up without a Cyclops, but that's just me being a biased fangirl and isn't actually an obstacle to me watching the movie.

(Besides, I'm sure the fact that Xavier is actually sympathetic/likeable will be more of a mind-breaker for me.)

I've heard a few questionable things about half-naked women, but well, I'm a comic fan so that's not really a deal breaker. :-P

But movies are expensive, so I always like to get opinions from people whose taste I actually trust. So, did you guys like it?

Why I'm not allowed to write comics #315

2011-06-04T22:51:00.002-04:00

You know what crossover couple I want to see most if DC and Marvel ever do another of those team up books?

J. Jonah Jameson and Amanda Waller.

Thank about it. It'd be awesome.

An idea that entertains me:

2011-06-03T11:48:00.002-04:00

Superhero versions of celebrity gameshows.

I'm not thinking like the one where they throw the celebrities in the jungle and make them do stupid shit for our amusement (though I suppose that would be fun too), but like Jeopardy, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Celebrity Mole, Celebrity Apprentice and all that.

It'd be fun to see superheroes doing that kind of thing (for charity of course!).

It might just be that I have an interest in the intersection of famous superheroing and celebrity. But I think it's more because it increases the likelihood of Guy Gardner calling Hal Jordan an asshole on national television. That sort of thing always amuses me. :-)

Pretty, Fizzy Paradise

Earth Final Conflict Review: 1x05 Old Flame

So Yeah, I'm Pissed Off About This Too:

Meme Answers

quick update

A Rant About Comic Book Death

Countdown to New Years!

Still Alive

Nifty?

Mumbling Update

My Problem with the New DCU:

Personal Update

A Rant About Something I Haven't Read...

A Long, Confused Ramble About the Wall

Oooh

Quick Opinion

Gone Fishing (so to speak)

I would watch it

So well...I've got mixed feelings...

Another fun tumblr:

Fun link for you

Schism-babbling

Hi again!

Not actually dead!

No post today

Oooo, again.

Thought

Question (and speculation!)

Concluding a Challenge

Schism: Still Pretty Interesting

Oooooo

Something Else for the List

A Notion

Ooo

:-)

I don't get it...

Personal Challenge Update

Need Recommendations

Yep

Thought exercise

Query

As Personal Challenges Go...

More Reboot Babbling (Which is Probably Repetitive)

Indeed

Well, I'm intrigued!

So I saw Captain America

A Personal Note...

Poor Superman...

Neat!

A Panel or Two

Interruption in Posting Schedule...or is it?

Mmm Hmm.

A Passing Thought

Meme: an epilogue

A Meme, A Meme

Miscellaneous, disoriented solicit babble.

Laziness reigns supreme:

Something else I've noticed from 1960s Batman:

A Rant Much Belated

Indeed

No post!

What I'd like to see:

An Opinion I Forgot to Express:

Hah

One thing from rereading old comics:

Fans Are Sometimes More Interesting Than Comics

Damn You Burt Ward! (not really)

Because I am always wrong...

Heh

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-nah!

New Cap Trailer

You know what I miss?

Bad Movies?

No post today

Triumphant Return!

Yay

So um...

An Epilogue to a Rant

Ooo

*bounce*

bounce