Geekery has its plusses and minuses
Aug. 2nd, 2010 09:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kilroySo I spent part of this weekend reading (and re-reading) comics. Some highlights:
* I am utterly uninterested in JMS' Wonder Woman after an issue and a half. Much though I loved B5, I have yet to see a comic written by him that actually worked for me. He writes in a sort of realistic/gritty way that has a lot of villains that look like they work for SPECTRE... and that just does not work for WW. Do not care. I'll try reading it again when she finishes her current continuity shift and someone else starts writing her.
* I had one of those delightful geek crossover moments reading Paul Cornell's Action Comics. This is a guy I've known for years from Doctor Who, and seeing him writing a comic series starring a fully-over-the-top Lex Luthor is wonderful. And the comic itself is absolutely hilarious, which is something you don't say about a Superman line very often.
* The most recent reboot of Power Girl is fabulous. It's fascinating to see her basically as the girl-on-the-street but with super-powers-- at the same time refreshingly different and completely intuitive to what we know of Kara. She's impatient, not super-intelligent, not fantastically witty, and I love her to pieces. The creative team responsible for the reboot just left, but Judd Winick took over and I feel like he's going to do just fine. I may subscribe to this one in a few issues.
* Jaime Reyes is still getting namechecked in DC comics! He's still out there!
* I have three unread Hellblazer issues sitting in my house. John Constantine Goes Crazy! I just can't bring myself to wade through it even though I love the current writing team.
* The current massive JLA/JSA crossover is bad. Really bad. Like, I'm just going to let the next-and-final issue that will be coming to my house just live in its plastic bag untouched. The writer is trying to cram way too much in, and the lack of clear narrative thread just makes me not care about the events at all.
* I finally went back and bought the graphic novels for the entire (first) Simone run on Birds of Prey, and have been blowing through them. I love these comics. I'm imagining a conversation between Simone and her artists early on in her run: "Look, they're awesome-looking women and I know you're going to want to put in some cheesecake. It's cool. Here are the ground rules. The girls should never pose just for cheesecake; there's plenty of opportunities to use what they're already doing in a sexy way. Ditto their non-costume outfits. If they're actually in bed and you put them in a nightgown, go nuts. But they should dress like actual women do. They're going to wear belly shirts sometimes, but not all the time. Also, their costumes are made of leather. There will be no bodice-ripping at any time. Are we clear?"
* And today, this, via Shortpacked! Sometimes I am embarrassed to be a comic fan.
* I am utterly uninterested in JMS' Wonder Woman after an issue and a half. Much though I loved B5, I have yet to see a comic written by him that actually worked for me. He writes in a sort of realistic/gritty way that has a lot of villains that look like they work for SPECTRE... and that just does not work for WW. Do not care. I'll try reading it again when she finishes her current continuity shift and someone else starts writing her.
* I had one of those delightful geek crossover moments reading Paul Cornell's Action Comics. This is a guy I've known for years from Doctor Who, and seeing him writing a comic series starring a fully-over-the-top Lex Luthor is wonderful. And the comic itself is absolutely hilarious, which is something you don't say about a Superman line very often.
* The most recent reboot of Power Girl is fabulous. It's fascinating to see her basically as the girl-on-the-street but with super-powers-- at the same time refreshingly different and completely intuitive to what we know of Kara. She's impatient, not super-intelligent, not fantastically witty, and I love her to pieces. The creative team responsible for the reboot just left, but Judd Winick took over and I feel like he's going to do just fine. I may subscribe to this one in a few issues.
* Jaime Reyes is still getting namechecked in DC comics! He's still out there!
* I have three unread Hellblazer issues sitting in my house. John Constantine Goes Crazy! I just can't bring myself to wade through it even though I love the current writing team.
* The current massive JLA/JSA crossover is bad. Really bad. Like, I'm just going to let the next-and-final issue that will be coming to my house just live in its plastic bag untouched. The writer is trying to cram way too much in, and the lack of clear narrative thread just makes me not care about the events at all.
* I finally went back and bought the graphic novels for the entire (first) Simone run on Birds of Prey, and have been blowing through them. I love these comics. I'm imagining a conversation between Simone and her artists early on in her run: "Look, they're awesome-looking women and I know you're going to want to put in some cheesecake. It's cool. Here are the ground rules. The girls should never pose just for cheesecake; there's plenty of opportunities to use what they're already doing in a sexy way. Ditto their non-costume outfits. If they're actually in bed and you put them in a nightgown, go nuts. But they should dress like actual women do. They're going to wear belly shirts sometimes, but not all the time. Also, their costumes are made of leather. There will be no bodice-ripping at any time. Are we clear?"
* And today, this, via Shortpacked! Sometimes I am embarrassed to be a comic fan.