Just Stay at Home

What sorts of things in comics make you leap out of your chair and cheer aloud?

We've all got things we just love to see in the comics. Scenes that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end and make you feel like you're staring through a magic window into a miraculous world.

For me it's a classic sort of Superman scene. We've seen it many, many times but I never get tired of seeing it. I imagine we'll be seeing a similar scene very soon in Superman: Secret Origin and I'm excited to see how Geoff Johns plays it.

Here's how it goes: something is happening. It's bad. It could be a crashing space plane or a meteor from space or robot bent on destruction. There is nothing that can stop it. It's absolutely impossible that whoever is caught in this predicament (though it's usually Lois Lane) can escape. They are dead. There's no way around it. They can't survive.

But then the plane stops falling. Or the meteor is diverted. And the people in the crowd (becuse there is always a crowd) look to the sky. It's a bird, they may say. Or maybe a plane. But in the end they find that it's a flying man. A man who can do the impossible. It's Superman.

What common, oft repeated scene takes your breath away?

We all know that J'onn J'onzz's Justice League Detroit had repeated trouble with bears.

I think it was J'onn's fault;


Bears do not like J'onn, and vice versa.

Let's see.... at this point each of those thousand dollar bills is worth an equivalent $6500 current dollars, each of which will then feed a homeless person (or, as we called them then, a "bum") for at least-- well, let's just say J'onn's impromptu wealth distribution scheme here is going make for a lot of happy hoboes in Apex.

Ordinarily, I'd guess that this is just Mother Earth rejecting the presence of an extraterrestial alien like the Martian Manhunter, hoping to destroy him by spewing forth chthonic monstrous ursines to attack him (under the guise of a bank robbery). But, sadly, this is no uprising of Nature against the Unnatural; it's just another average bank robbery in Apex:
Wouldn't you like to have been at that gang meeting? "Well, yes... we could knock over that filling station while wearing stocking caps... or we could.. build a giant mechanical bear and use it to rob the bank while we're inside it wearing suits and ties! All in favor...?" I'll say this for the denizens of Apex's underworld; they've got a zest for fun and clearly think of crime as some sort of avant garde performance art.

Even JJ himself is overwhelmed by the Silver Age lunacy of it all...


The Apexians, being more used to stupidity than J'onn, observe it all with a placidity that still leaves them able to comment on it in haiku:

Look! The bear's leaping
off with an armful of one
thousand dollar bills!

So far I've been pretty pleased with the backup features in the books I'm reading. I didn't even hate the Ravager backup in Teen Titans! How about that, huh?

I'm also pleased to hear that the backups will be collected in their own trade paperbacks at some point. I just can't rationalize buying every book that has a backup. I just don't have the cash for all that.

Still, the backups in the books I am reading are turning out to be quite fun. Blue Beetle, of course, is fantastic. And The Question is looking like it should be pretty cool. It's great getting more than one story for the price of one. I really feel like that extra story is worth the extra dollar.

The backup I'm looking forward to the most is still on the horizon. More than anything I'm excited about James Robinson and Greg Rucka writing Captain Atom in Action Comics. That's going to be a blast.

What backup features have you liked the best?

"Okay, that just tears it!," the Shield thought. "The Hangman's really getting on my nerves.

"These two pug-ugly yoboes should have been hanged this morning, but weren't because the prison noose went missing. Gee, I wonder where that went... nice necktie, Hangman! Thanks for letting the Zebra Brothers here survive long enough to attack this nice Republican trophy wife!

"At least my exceedingly woundable sidekick Dusty & His Starched Cape are handling the one with the gun, so that I, who am invulnerable to bullets, don't have to. But now this quaking con is gonna carve up Miss Twin Peaks like a Christmas ham, unless I--

"Sweet Betsy Ross! Dang you all to heck, Hangman! Just how the heck do you keep on dropping in from nowhere?! Did you jump out a plane? Can you give a guy a warning, because while you're pouncing down to save Little Red Writhing Hood I'm stuck here walking like an Egyptian in the middle of the prison-yard and totally extraneous to the action, except as a decoy....

"Just whose comic IS this, anyhow....?!"

Thank you, James Robinson. Thanks for remembering that there actually are cities in Japan besides Tokyo.

I know those shrines well, in fact. I used to ride past Nagata Shrine on my way to work every day on the bus. And on many a weekend my friends and I would cut through Ikuta Shrine to cut a few minutes off the walk to one of our favorite restaurants.

*sigh* I miss those days...

Today, I'd like to talk about girls.

Specifically, teenage girls. Now, this is an unusual topic for the Absorbascon, but there's a reason for it. Last week, I spent three days working with young female quartets and choruses on their stage presence, interpretation, performance skills, etc., as part of a large music festival. The fact that I was working only with girls was a happenstance, but it brought home to me something I'd never really given much thought to...

Girls and boys are very different people.

Boys are interested in being 'cool'. While this means different things to different boys, it's pretty much a universal and generally involves being on top of your game and being emotionally unperturbed.

Girls do not seem interested in being 'cool'. In fact, they seem interested in being overwhelmed and perturbed. That's not a criticism; quite the opposite, really. Boys try to paddle about in safe emotional waters and avoid making waves, while girls are hot-dogging the pipeline on the sea of feeling, with spectacular rides and dramatic wipe-outs.

I could go on, but you all are probably more familiar with the difference between boys and girls than I am. My real question is: are the essential differences between boys and girls well represented in comic books?

Because if so, I haven't noticed it much, and if not, then that's not very realistic. Certainly, there is a tendency for all heroes, even young ones, to be portrayed in a Standard Heroic Personality Mode. And one would except young heroes to be more mature than their agemates, meaning that they might be a bit beyond the personality extremes of 'normal' teenagers.

Still. If there's not difference at all in their portrayal it demands us to ask the question: why? Is it lazy characterization? Is it male writers unable to write female characters? Is it part of the Conspiracy to Claim that there are No Essential Differences Between Men and Women?

You tell me.

Still can't believe it. But since we're walking down memory lane, I'm remembering Michael's robot during Dance Machine. Always stopped me in my tracks as a kid. Rest in Peace.

Some things never change. This is one of them. This is Thursday Night Thinking.

Tonight: a classic Batman cover that asks the age old question that we've all struggled with: "am I Batman?"

Good thought, better question.

Galliano

Dior

Anita from Castles Crowns and Cottages!!!!

I am very excited to announce Anita as the winner of my second giveaway! She is one of the sweetest and nicest bloggers out there! It is an honor to send her this little gift.

Lacroix

She has a lovely blog and her images and her fun positive energy is contagious! I love her posts on crowns and all things French. Her love of music and life are uplifting and each visit to her site enriches my soul! Thank you Anita, I am so happy that you won!!!

A big Thank you to all of you who entered, who read my posts, and to all of you who have shown me so much support!
XOXO

Judith~

There were a number of things about this week's Justice Society of America that unsettled me. Primarily, I think, is the fact that one of history's greatest tragedies was employed to tell a super-hero story.

I don't know if Mr. Ordway has ever been to Hiroshima. I have, and it's impossible to forget the things you see there. The photographs of the dead, the melted rooftiles, the black, human-shaped stains on paving stones. These aren't things you forget, even if you wish to.

I understand that maybe Mr. Ordway was trying to make a point about the issue, that he was trying to say that the dropping of that bomb and its twin weren't something black or white. Maybe, even as far from it as I am, I'm still too close to the issue. I can't fault Mr. Ordway for trying to tell the story even if it makes me unformfortable.

Hiroshima is an interesting city, and if you go thinking you'll find a place absorbed by the meloncholy of its tragedy you'll be disappointed. the burnt out remains of the A-Bomb Dome are the only real remnants of what happened there. The Peace Park at the site of where the bomb was dropped is big and beautiful, and there are always both tourists and Japanese people there.

I'm sure that there are those who still harbor ill will for what happened on that day. But you wouldn't know it. Maybe it's too long gone and everyone there is too young. I got nothing but friendly smiles, waves from children, and enthuisiastic attempts at English. Nobody seemed angry or resentful that I was an American. They just seemed happy to see me.

Still, you can't forget what happened there. Whether it was right or wrong -- and I doubt anyone has a real, proper answer to that question -- it happened. And even though this week's JSA made me uncomfortable, if it helps just one person to remember what happened in Hiroshima, it'll be worth it.

Zook gets no love.

Krypto, the original dog with cape, gets boatloads of love. Ace the Bathound and Bat-Mite are still cult faves. Proty the Martyr and Proty II have legions of fans. Even Itty the Plasmid is thought of fondly.

But not Zook. Zook gets no love.

Really, it's not Zook's fault. As a character, Zook was never anything but helpful, respectful, thrifty, and clean. Except for the time he had amnesia and worked with crooks and almost killed J'onn. But that sort of thing happens to everyone in comics.

But then again, it's not our fault, either. Something there is that doesn't love a Zook. It could be the Space Monkey Perseverative Phenomenon. Human beings naturally hate space-monkeys, like Debbie or Gleek. It's not a frontal-lobe thing, it goes right to the basal ganglia, and you see one of these things and your body just autonomically reaches for the nearest club-like object and you start swinging your arm down again and again, like George Segal in Terminal Man. Only television producers are immune to the Space Monkey Perseverative Phenomenon, contributing to the theory that they are only partially human.

[The Space Monkey Perseverative Phenomenon, to be clear, does not apply to monkeys-in-space, like Blip. People like monkeys-in-space, but we hate space-monkeys.]

But Zook isn't even a real Space Monkey, because he's got no ears, has the wrong number of fingers, and has a cleft palate like a teddy bear. Zook is always addressed as a "he" but has no visible genitalia. Zook is some sort of hideous hybrid, the illegitimate offspring of a three-way between a teletubby, a Care Bear, and Bill Keane. Compared to Zook, Space Monkeys are beautiful butterflies and Zook is a monstrous hairy tarantula of "cuteness".

Yet, as if Zook's mere appearance weren't enough to make you doubt the existence of God, they saddle him with DC's characteristic baby-talk, all confused pronoun cases, omitted articles, conjugational oversimplification, and intermittent copulative verbs. It's maddening.

Zook obviously hasn't gotten to my letter yet.

Batwoman in Detective Comics kicks off tomorrow. I for one am ridiculously excited.

I am a great admirer of Greg Rucka's work, especially when he's let loose to do whatever the hell he feels like. He's had that freedom with Action Comics so far, and if you read the recent annual and don't agree that he's doing something amazing with a couple of nobody characters, well... You have my sympathy.

I get the feeling that Detective is more or less the same deal. I don't think there are really many restrictions on what Rucka's going to be doing. Kathy Kane and Rene Montoya are more or less Rucka's characters. And I have no doubt that he'll manage to tell a heck of a story with them.

What do you think?