Temptations of a Wallflower, by Eva Leigh. Historical romance. Third in a romance trilogy by the author Zoe Archer writing under a new name.
The Jewel and Her Lapidary, by Fran Wilde. Fantasy. This is a novella release from Tor.com, and I grabbed it since I liked the sound of the blurb and really liked the cover art. (Relatedly, I also really liked this post on tor.com, in which the artist describes the process behind the cover art’s creation! It’s a pretty neat exploration of how cover art can be made in this digital age we’re in.)
Breaking Cat News, by Georgia Dunn. Comics. Grabbed this after seeing Dear Author review it. It’s a glowing review, and all I needed was one look at the included sample page in that review to go YEP I NEED THIS. It’s a brand new collection, the first released by the artist, who posts on Mondays and Thursdays at breakingcatnews.com. As of this writing, I have already read both the ebook and the entire archive on the site. Recommended. ^_^
This is the year I’ve been steadily increasing my digital comics reading–and now I’ve got yet another subscription to add to my growing list of female-led titles I’m following from Marvel. Namely, the first of the new Thor series, introducing a female Thor.
Goddess of Thunder
I don’t have much familiarity yet with the Asgardian mythos as depicted by Marvel, at least in the comics–I haven’t been following the current Avengers line, or the Thor titles that’ve led up to this. My experience so far was with a couple of complimentary digital issues that came with the Blu-ray of the second Thor movie. So I was coming into this issue pretty much cold.
To my amusement, my immediate reaction as soon as I started reading was to observe how much Thor, at least as drawn by this artist, looked suspiciously like Chris Hemsworth. For the record, I am on board with that. Because yum. And in general, I liked the art, though the font the letterer uses for the Asgardians’ speech is a trifle hard to read. I get why they’re doing it–it’s a visual cue to signify how their speech is more formal and archaic than that of us modern folk of Midgard, I expect. But it’s still a bit of a hitch to me as I try to read the dialogue.
As a more or less new reader to Marvel’s Asgardian mythos, with enough familiarity from the movies to recognize the characters, I felt like I didn’t need any prior backstory to know what was going on. The story sets it up for us pretty clearly: the Avengers were in a great battle upon the moon, and Nick Fury whispered something to Thor that threw him into a morass of despair. Ever since, Thor’s been on the moon, desperately trying to lift Mjollnir again, and unable to do so. We are not told what this whisper was, and there’s great consternation on the part of Odin and Freyja as they try to rouse the despondent Thor.
We’re also told that Odin has returned from being away, and that Freyja has been ruling Asgard in his absence as the All-Mother. Odin accuses Freyja of coddling Thor, only to discover that he can’t lift the hammer either, and in his anger he snarks at Freyja about remembering her place now that he’s back to rule again. Odin, Odin, Odin. How long have you been married to your queen? Haven’t you figured out yet that pissing her off is unwise?
Meanwhile, OH HEY LOOK FROST GIANTS FROM UNDER THE SEA. And Dark Elf Malekith makes an appearance, and I have to say, I rather liked him. (But then, I’m rather partial to snarky Dark Elves, as anyone who’s read Faerie Blood could figure out.) It’s this that finally rouses Thor from his despair, and even if he doesn’t have the hammer, he puts up a valiant battle against Malekith. Which does not go well.
I’m a little bummed that we don’t see the new female Thor until the end of the story–but it was rather nifty nonetheless to see the mysterious figure picking up the hammer, and to see the inscription on it shifting pronouns from ‘he’ to ‘she’. I’m given to understand that there will be several suspects for who the new Thor actually is. And so far, I’m definitely on board for finding out.
Bring it on, new Goddess of Thunder! Let there be lightning!
This is the year I’ve been steadily increasing my digital comics reading–and now I’ve got yet another subscription to add to my growing list of female-led titles I’m following from Marvel. Namely, the first of the new Thor series, introducing a female Thor.
Goddess of Thunder
I don’t have much familiarity yet with the Asgardian mythos as depicted by Marvel, at least in the comics–I haven’t been following the current Avengers line, or the Thor titles that’ve led up to this. My experience so far was with a couple of complimentary digital issues that came with the Blu-ray of the second Thor movie. So I was coming into this issue pretty much cold.
To my amusement, my immediate reaction as soon as I started reading was to observe how much Thor, at least as drawn by this artist, looked suspiciously like Chris Hemsworth. For the record, I am on board with that. Because yum. And in general, I liked the art, though the font the letterer uses for the Asgardians’ speech is a trifle hard to read. I get why they’re doing it–it’s a visual cue to signify how their speech is more formal and archaic than that of us modern folk of Midgard, I expect. But it’s still a bit of a hitch to me as I try to read the dialogue.
As a more or less new reader to Marvel’s Asgardian mythos, with enough familiarity from the movies to recognize the characters, I felt like I didn’t need any prior backstory to know what was going on. The story sets it up for us pretty clearly: the Avengers were in a great battle upon the moon, and Nick Fury whispered something to Thor that threw him into a morass of despair. Ever since, Thor’s been on the moon, desperately trying to lift Mjollnir again, and unable to do so. We are not told what this whisper was, and there’s great consternation on the part of Odin and Freyja as they try to rouse the despondent Thor.
We’re also told that Odin has returned from being away, and that Freyja has been ruling Asgard in his absence as the All-Mother. Odin accuses Freyja of coddling Thor, only to discover that he can’t lift the hammer either, and in his anger he snarks at Freyja about remembering her place now that he’s back to rule again. Odin, Odin, Odin. How long have you been married to your queen? Haven’t you figured out yet that pissing her off is unwise?
Meanwhile, OH HEY LOOK FROST GIANTS FROM UNDER THE SEA. And Dark Elf Malekith makes an appearance, and I have to say, I rather liked him. (But then, I’m rather partial to snarky Dark Elves, as anyone who’s read Faerie Blood could figure out.) It’s this that finally rouses Thor from his despair, and even if he doesn’t have the hammer, he puts up a valiant battle against Malekith. Which does not go well.
I’m a little bummed that we don’t see the new female Thor until the end of the story–but it was rather nifty nonetheless to see the mysterious figure picking up the hammer, and to see the inscription on it shifting pronouns from ‘he’ to ‘she’. I’m given to understand that there will be several suspects for who the new Thor actually is. And so far, I’m definitely on board for finding out.
Bring it on, new Goddess of Thunder! Let there be lightning!
I’ve mentioned before I was eager to pick up the debut issue of Marvel’s new storyline for Storm. That issue has just dropped, and I gotta say, I was quite delighted by it. I’ve already been happy to be reading the lines for Black Widow, Captain Marvel, and Ms. Marvel, but this? This made me happy in ways the others haven’t yet, just because I know Storm.
Storm Preview
She’s the first superheroine who ever caught my eye and made me interested in comics, way back in my middle school days when I hung out with young nerd boys who were reading X-Men releases. I remember liking Storm in no small part because she was a girl on a team that was predominantly male. But I also thought she was beautiful, and graceful, and oh my goddess, her hair. I remember reading her origin story, and can still recall the panels of a young Ororo, skyborn over her African village, her face radiant with joy as she called down the rains onto the drought-stricken land.
I fell out of reading the X-Men not long after the Dark Phoenix saga, so I haven’t been paying attention to them outside a movie context in ages. But reading Storm #1? It felt like coming home.
The story: very basic and straightforward, with an A-plot pertaining to Storm lending aid to an African village, and having the maturity now to better know how to handle saving them without threatening other locations beyond them. The village is delighted to accept her help, and there’s a shot of her getting her picture taken with a young girl, and both of them have joyous expressions that were just beautiful to behold. Naturally there are complications–because the village in question is located in a country with an anti-mutant regime, and the local soldiers are very direct in telling her she’s not wanted or welcome.
The B-plot, also straightforward. Storm’s now headmistress of the Jean Gray School for Higher Learning–what I used to know as the Charles Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. And there’s a student with plant powers (“ooh, a plantshaper!” says the Elfquest fan in my brain), codename Flourish, only she’s been saddled with the nickname Creep by her classmates. She’s getting bullied. And she lashes out at Storm in ways that make Ororo have to confront her own choices.
Art-wise, gosh, this was lovely. Especially all the panels with Ororo in the air, and the last page in particular is glorious. You should look at this issue on the strength of the art alone.
Here are some other reviews you can sample, including several with lovely preview glimpses of the art. And I very much like Adventures in Poor Taste’s caption of “Umm… sir? Let’s not be a douche to the woman who stopped a hundred foot tall wave, alright?” Because yeah.
I’ve mentioned before I was eager to pick up the debut issue of Marvel’s new storyline for Storm. That issue has just dropped, and I gotta say, I was quite delighted by it. I’ve already been happy to be reading the lines for Black Widow, Captain Marvel, and Ms. Marvel, but this? This made me happy in ways the others haven’t yet, just because I know Storm.
Storm Preview
She’s the first superheroine who ever caught my eye and made me interested in comics, way back in my middle school days when I hung out with young nerd boys who were reading X-Men releases. I remember liking Storm in no small part because she was a girl on a team that was predominantly male. But I also thought she was beautiful, and graceful, and oh my goddess, her hair. I remember reading her origin story, and can still recall the panels of a young Ororo, skyborn over her African village, her face radiant with joy as she called down the rains onto the drought-stricken land.
I fell out of reading the X-Men not long after the Dark Phoenix saga, so I haven’t been paying attention to them outside a movie context in ages. But reading Storm #1? It felt like coming home.
The story: very basic and straightforward, with an A-plot pertaining to Storm lending aid to an African village, and having the maturity now to better know how to handle saving them without threatening other locations beyond them. The village is delighted to accept her help, and there’s a shot of her getting her picture taken with a young girl, and both of them have joyous expressions that were just beautiful to behold. Naturally there are complications–because the village in question is located in a country with an anti-mutant regime, and the local soldiers are very direct in telling her she’s not wanted or welcome.
The B-plot, also straightforward. Storm’s now headmistress of the Jean Gray School for Higher Learning–what I used to know as the Charles Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. And there’s a student with plant powers (“ooh, a plantshaper!” says the Elfquest fan in my brain), codename Flourish, only she’s been saddled with the nickname Creep by her classmates. She’s getting bullied. And she lashes out at Storm in ways that make Ororo have to confront her own choices.
Art-wise, gosh, this was lovely. Especially all the panels with Ororo in the air, and the last page in particular is glorious. You should look at this issue on the strength of the art alone.
Here are some other reviews you can sample, including several with lovely preview glimpses of the art. And I very much like Adventures in Poor Taste’s caption of “Umm… sir? Let’s not be a douche to the woman who stopped a hundred foot tall wave, alright?” Because yeah.
Marvel apparently is continuing its campaign to get more of my money, with the news that not only are they shifting the right to wield Mjöllnir–and to use the name of Thor–over to a woman, they’re also actively courting the female demographic.
THANK YOU, MARVEL. Why yes, I WILL have some.
See, this is exactly the kind of thing that will in fact get me to buy comics. I’m already reading the Black Widow, Captain Marvel, and Ms. Marvel titles, and I’ve just recently added the standalone Storm title to my subscriptions. I’ll be looking at this new Thor when it shows up, too.
Mind you, I refuse to give up appreciating the beauty that is Chris Hemsworth as Thor in the MCU, because yum. The Mary Sue was also responsible for pretty much crystallizing my reaction to his portrayal, which was: “I want to live in his hair!”
If I Weren’t Agnostic, This Would Totally Convert Me
That said, my universe is large and can contain multitudes. Specifically, it can happily accommodate different-gendered versions of the same character. Which it has, in fact, done before. Case in point, my and Dara’s TV Girlfriend!
ETA: Dorkly chimes in on the matter over here! Thanks, Dorkly. Now I’m totally going to be imagining Chris Hemsworth roaring “THIS IS SHIT OF THE HORSE!” for the rest of the day.
Marvel apparently is continuing its campaign to get more of my money, with the news that not only are they shifting the right to wield Mjöllnir–and to use the name of Thor–over to a woman, they’re also actively courting the female demographic.
THANK YOU, MARVEL. Why yes, I WILL have some.
See, this is exactly the kind of thing that will in fact get me to buy comics. I’m already reading the Black Widow, Captain Marvel, and Ms. Marvel titles, and I’ve just recently added the standalone Storm title to my subscriptions. I’ll be looking at this new Thor when it shows up, too.
Mind you, I refuse to give up appreciating the beauty that is Chris Hemsworth as Thor in the MCU, because yum. The Mary Sue was also responsible for pretty much crystallizing my reaction to his portrayal, which was: “I want to live in his hair!”
If I Weren’t Agnostic, This Would Totally Convert Me
That said, my universe is large and can contain multitudes. Specifically, it can happily accommodate different-gendered versions of the same character. Which it has, in fact, done before. Case in point, my and Dara’s TV Girlfriend!
ETA: Dorkly chimes in on the matter over here! Thanks, Dorkly. Now I’m totally going to be imagining Chris Hemsworth roaring “THIS IS SHIT OF THE HORSE!” for the rest of the day.
Let me tell you a thing about having an iPad, Internets: it means I’ve become way more of a comics reader than I used to be, back in the day when the only comic I had any real interest in was Elfquest.
Dark Horse has contributed a lot to that–not only because they’ve picked up Elfquest for its resurrection, but also because they’ve produced excellent material for the extensions of the storylines for both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly. I’ve even dabbled some in the comics adaptations of the new Trek universe, wherein they’re telling stories more along the lines of what I am NOT getting out of the new movies: i.e., some goddamn Star Trek, with obligatory strange new worlds and exploration and such. In the last few years I’ve enjoyed a MacGyver miniseries from Image Comics, the three-part Anne Steelyard story, and the graphic novel for the Thrilling Adventure Hour.
But it’s been because of the Mary Sue and their coverage of certain Marvel storylines, combined with my growing general affection for the Marvel movie universe, that I’ve committed to following some actual superhero comics for the first time in my life. These are the current storylines for Black Widow, Captain Marvel, and the new young Ms. Marvel, that last in no small part because I really like that Marvel’s trying to branch out with some religious and ethnic diversity in their superhero lineup.
See, ’cause here’s the thing–I’ve been all too aware and very sad about how a lot of the comics industry these days is infected with rampaging sexism. But dammit, I like superheroes. I have ever since I discovered the X-Men when I was in middle school. I loved Christopher Reeve as Superman way back in the day, and Michael Keaton in the first of his Batman movies. I adored the first season of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. And I am full of nothing but love for the extended DC Animated universe, that connected all the episodes of the Batman, Superman, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited cartoons. That was some damn fine storytelling, and to this day, Mark Hamill’s brilliant voice work for the Joker makes his version of the character my all-time favorite.
And it’s very worth mentioning that in the Murkworks, we very, VERY much like She-Hulk. In fact, Dara played her in an RPG we did in Kentucky, back when we were still having our Saturday gaming nights.
So when I see news like this about how one of the people involved with the still-unnamed sequel* to Man of Steel (the one in which Wonder Woman is finally going to have her first big-screen appearance EVER) says some hugely insulting things about She-Hulk and about geeks in general, I feel my blood pressure spiking. Because this? This gives us a two-fer, a slam not only to a beloved character, but also to comics geeks of both genders all over the country.
And make no mistake, the questions he was asked shouldn’t get a pass, either. “Slut-Hulk”? SERIOUSLY?
And I can’t even muster rage about it, because it’s so goddamn exhausting to see this attitude again and again and again.
But for the record, let’s lay it out:
One, women can like superheroes too. Seriously. We CAN. We DO. And it’s hugely, hugely offensive to dismiss the women in your character lineup as “porn stars”, i.e., only there for the gratification of the men, because HELLO, we’re buying these comics too.
Two, enough already with the tiresome stereotype of geeks and nerds as losers who can’t get dates, who live in their parents’ basements, etc., etc., we’ve heard it all before. And y’know what? If your reaction to our interests is to point and laugh at us as socially inept and unfuckable, you know who we definitely won’t be going out with? YOU.
If you need me, Internets, I’ll be over here, consoling myself with the coming of Agent Carter–and with comics that aren’t belittling my gender. Or belittling me for picking them up in the first place.
* Editing to add: ah, apparently the film actually does have a title now: Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice. I am still not filled with confidence here. Not much room for it with all the PUNCHINGS.
I’ve heard rumors that in Germany the trailers for this movie have been playing it up as a Black Widow movie that just happens to also include Captain America. I’m really rather okay with that, because goddamn, Black Widow laid down her awesome all over this plot. Which is not to say that the Cap and Nick Fury weren’t also awesome–because they were.
And I gotta admit, although I bailed on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. after episode 6, I’m intrigued enough by what this movie did to the overall universe that I’m thinking I’ll have to get caught up on the story. Five or six different people have already told me that GOD YES YOU NEED TO GET CAUGHT UP. So I’ll see what I can do about that.
My fellow Browncoats, most if not all of you will know about this already. But for those of you who didn’t, be advised that Dark Horse Comics loves us and wants us to be happy.
Because behold: the first issue of the new Serenity: Leaves on the Wind series is out!
It should surprise exactly ZERO persons reading this that I bought the hell out of that as soon as I saw the link show up in my email. And when I got home tonight, I happily slurped the issue itself down onto my iPad. Picoreview: gorram hell it’s deeply, deeply shiny to see these characters again.
The art’s acceptable, by which I mean everyone is recognizable. The overall style is nicely gritty without being blatant and distracting me from the actual story. And the story–well! It’s kicking in not long after the events of the movie, and we’re seeing straight out of the gate that the revelation of what happened on Miranda is NOT going over well to the general public. The Alliance is now looking very, VERY hard for the crew of our favorite Firefly-class freighter. And so is the ragtag brand new resistance group forming, who’ve gotten it into their heads that Malcolm Reynolds should be their leader. I can hear Mal facepalming from here, you guys.
Which is all I’m going to say about it, at least in this main post. I call open season on spoilers in the comments, though–so if you’ve read it and you want to squee, COME RIGHT IN and let your Browncoat flags fly!
My fellow Browncoats, most if not all of you will know about this already. But for those of you who didn’t, be advised that Dark Horse Comics loves us and wants us to be happy.
Because behold: the first issue of the new Serenity: Leaves on the Wind series is out!
It should surprise exactly ZERO persons reading this that I bought the hell out of that as soon as I saw the link show up in my email. And when I got home tonight, I happily slurped the issue itself down onto my iPad. Picoreview: gorram hell it’s deeply, deeply shiny to see these characters again.
The art’s acceptable, by which I mean everyone is recognizable. The overall style is nicely gritty without being blatant and distracting me from the actual story. And the story–well! It’s kicking in not long after the events of the movie, and we’re seeing straight out of the gate that the revelation of what happened on Miranda is NOT going over well to the general public. The Alliance is now looking very, VERY hard for the crew of our favorite Firefly-class freighter. And so is the ragtag brand new resistance group forming, who’ve gotten it into their heads that Malcolm Reynolds should be their leader. I can hear Mal facepalming from here, you guys.
Which is all I’m going to say about it, at least in this main post. I call open season on spoilers in the comments, though–so if you’ve read it and you want to squee, COME RIGHT IN and let your Browncoat flags fly!
Wow, it feels pretty damned awesome to be able to use the words “new Elfquest” again for the first time in years.
Fellow Elfquest fans, if you haven’t grabbed the new release, you should do so pronto. It’s not just the bit of prologue that the Pinis ran via Boing Boing a while back; it’s the whole version of that story, including the part that ran on Boing Boing but also proceeding past that as well to give us the full prologue for the story to come.
We see quite the span of time covered as well. A newer character born not terribly long ago (in terms of the last few bits of stories released) grows up and earns her tribe name. A brand new character is born and we see her grow up a bit too. We get followup with a LOT of characters, elfin AND human. And some Shit Goes Down that ends things on a truly poignant note, and there are some lovely and tragic panels in particular towards the end of the story. And we see one of the most stalwart and unchanging couples in Cutter’s tribe get shaken up, in an unexpected and real interesting way.
I also note one particular REAL interesting development that, now that this has been established as canon, would have made roleplay on Two Moons a LOT more amusing. It absolutely reminds me of a thing that stickmaker did with a character of his, way back in the day even before I started MUSHing and was running an EQ game in Kentucky. Rod, if you’re reading this, you may well remember the thing I mean; just recall the fate of Ash.
The new release is available digitally from Dark Horse, and I scarfed it right off their web site here. The print copy may be already available in comic stores near you, but you can also order it here.
Read the story yet, tribesmates? Talk to me in the comments! (If you HAVEN’T read it yet, beware the spoilers!)
Wow, it feels pretty damned awesome to be able to use the words “new Elfquest” again for the first time in years.
Fellow Elfquest fans, if you haven’t grabbed the new release, you should do so pronto. It’s not just the bit of prologue that the Pinis ran via Boing Boing a while back; it’s the whole version of that story, including the part that ran on Boing Boing but also proceeding past that as well to give us the full prologue for the story to come.
We see quite the span of time covered as well. A newer character born not terribly long ago (in terms of the last few bits of stories released) grows up and earns her tribe name. A brand new character is born and we see her grow up a bit too. We get followup with a LOT of characters, elfin AND human. And some Shit Goes Down that ends things on a truly poignant note, and there are some lovely and tragic panels in particular towards the end of the story. And we see one of the most stalwart and unchanging couples in Cutter’s tribe get shaken up, in an unexpected and real interesting way.
I also note one particular REAL interesting development that, now that this has been established as canon, would have made roleplay on Two Moons a LOT more amusing. It absolutely reminds me of a thing that stickmaker did with a character of his, way back in the day even before I started MUSHing and was running an EQ game in Kentucky. Rod, if you’re reading this, you may well remember the thing I mean; just recall the fate of Ash.
The new release is available digitally from Dark Horse, and I scarfed it right off their web site here. The print copy may be already available in comic stores near you, but you can also order it here.
Read the story yet, tribesmates? Talk to me in the comments! (If you HAVEN’T read it yet, beware the spoilers!)
I squeed about this on the social networks yesterday, but for those of you who may have missed it, Richard and Wendy Pini released the news that Dark Horse is going to be picking up publishing Elfquest! They linked up to this story on Comics Beat that has pertinent details!
Dark Horse is going to re-publish older material as well as start putting out the new stuff as well–the prologue bit that was recently serialized on Boing Boing, AND the new actual main story, “The Final Quest”, once it starts in earnest! And there will be print and digital releases!
This news fills with me HAPPY. And soon my iPad will be filled with ELFQUEST.
Because yeah, I have all the previously released print material, but I’ll adore having it in digital form as well. I know it’s been available to read for free for ages on elfquest.com (which is AWESOME), but that depends upon having a live Internet connection. And I do love the idea of having omics to read right on my iPad!
Plus: DARK HORSE! Who’ve been the main place I’ve been buying comics from at all, what with their excellent Buffy season 8 and season 9 series, as well as the stories they’ve done for the Firefly universe. They should be an excellent home for Elfquest and I am looking very much forward to giving them more of my money. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: my own treatment of elf characters can trace the majority of its lineage right back to the Wolfriders and the Sun Folk, and I am over the moon that Elfquest is coming back to us again.
I squeed about this on the social networks yesterday, but for those of you who may have missed it, Richard and Wendy Pini released the news that Dark Horse is going to be picking up publishing Elfquest! They linked up to this story on Comics Beat that has pertinent details!
Dark Horse is going to re-publish older material as well as start putting out the new stuff as well–the prologue bit that was recently serialized on Boing Boing, AND the new actual main story, “The Final Quest”, once it starts in earnest! And there will be print and digital releases!
This news fills with me HAPPY. And soon my iPad will be filled with ELFQUEST.
Because yeah, I have all the previously released print material, but I’ll adore having it in digital form as well. I know it’s been available to read for free for ages on elfquest.com (which is AWESOME), but that depends upon having a live Internet connection. And I do love the idea of having omics to read right on my iPad!
Plus: DARK HORSE! Who’ve been the main place I’ve been buying comics from at all, what with their excellent Buffy season 8 and season 9 series, as well as the stories they’ve done for the Firefly universe. They should be an excellent home for Elfquest and I am looking very much forward to giving them more of my money. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: my own treatment of elf characters can trace the majority of its lineage right back to the Wolfriders and the Sun Folk, and I am over the moon that Elfquest is coming back to us again.
This past weekend, my household converged on Emerald City Comicon, along with a houseguest–a friend of mine who’d come all the way from Norway to visit us, and to attend the convention as well! (My poor friend came down with strep throat during his visit, but happily we got him treated beforehand, and liberal doses of antibiotics got him up to speed to be able to attend the convention. Otherwise there would have been SADNESS.)
Since this was my first Comicon of any kind, I didn’t really know what to expect. I’m not a huge comics reader and never have been, with the gigantic exception of Elfquest. I don’t do superhero comics for the most part, though I have a history of dabbling in X-Men from way back in middle school. These days, I am actually doing a little bit of digital comics reading, but I’ve been focusing that on the Buffy season 8 and season 9 releases from Dark Horse, as well as their Firefly and Serenity stuff. And, I’ve been amusing myself with a Star Trek run of stories adapting TOS-era plotlines to use in the continuity of the new movies. There ARE a small number of webcomics I follow as well–xkcd, Kevin and Kell, and a lovely little thing called Fox Sister.
Mostly, though… I don’t follow the big storylines from Marvel or DC. Which makes me a bit sad. I love me some superheros, but I’m hugely alienated by the ongoing sexism of the art and the storylines. So I relate a lot better to superheros as they’re depicted in excellent animation like the wonderful years-long continuity that included the Batman, Superman, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited cartoons. I’ve been consistently entertained by the Marvel movie adaptations, for the most part. And as y’all know, I adored the Avengers.
So when I went through the exhibition floor at the con and saw an endless stream of female characters depicted with enormous breasts and spines twisted in angles that NOBODY WOULD EVER POSE IN EVER, all for the sake of showing off their breasts and their bottoms… all I could think was ‘yeah, mostly? This is not art intended for me‘. I was particularly sad to see one big-breasted depiction of Phoenix from the X-Men, and another of Wonder Woman with a thong so tiny she was practically nude. In both cases, the characters were depicted with dewy-eyed ‘can has sexytimes now pls?’ expressions.
Definitely not art for me.
Happily, though, there were shining exceptions to this. One was, of course, Wendy and Richard Pini’s presence at the con. Elfquest is hands down one of the most formative influence on me as a writer ever. When I had Kiri Moth do the Faerie Blood cover, in fact, I pointed her at images of Leetah and Rayek from Elfquest and told her, “Kendis looks like the child these two characters never had.” But even aside from what my brain always insists elves should look like, the values of tolerance upheld by the lead elf characters all throughout the history of the series peal through my heart. And some of the strongest female characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading about have come straight out of the pages of this series.
(If you’re new to Elfquest, I cannot recommend it highly enough. It’s ALL available to be read for free on elfquest.com. GO! Go look at the pretty!)
Wendy and Richard did an excellent panel about the history of the series and what we can expect from it in the future, and I happily leapt on the opportunity to not only let my friend Yngvar buy me an Elfquest shirt at the con, but to also order two more from the site now selling them. I also ordered from the Pinis a special hardback edition of one of Wendy’s non-Elfquest works, her SF adaptation of Masque of the Red Death. This, hands down, was the highlight of the con for me.
Here’s the shirt that Yngvar got me! This is a reworked version of a design I used to have on a pale orange shirt, which had the caption “To Hunt, to Howl, to Live Free”, as I recall. Here it’s been redone to be a Comicon exclusive, and I do admit to a bit of fangirly squee to see that Wolfrider with the Space Needle in the background!
To Hunt, to Howl, to Live Free (in Seattle)
That said, though, I did also find one other set of graphic novels I want to read–a three-part series called Anne Steelyard, authored by the well-respected Barbara Hambly! This thing’s supposed to be set in an Indiana-Jones-esque timeframe, only the lead character is in fact a woman. Looking forward to diving into this, too.
And we bought pretty prints of art inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender, Avatar: The Legend of Korra, and Doctor Who. And we saw lots of awfully nifty costumes–especially my and Dara’s friend Torrey, a master-class costumer now who’s won awards at Worldcon. We found her wandering the con in her Prince Zuko costume, again from Avatar: The Last Airbender. 😀
I bought two other shirts as well–both of which were Han-Solo-themed. Just to show that there was merch at this thing Relevant to My Interests. ‘Cause seriously, this shirt? How could I NOT get this shirt?
The Most Scoundrelicious Shirt in the Universe
All in all I think I still found more to relate to at ECCC than I have to date at PAX–and I’d consider doing a one-day jaunt to future cons. People who are more in comics than I am should definitely go.
ETA: Oh, right, duh, I totally forgot to mention the other actual panel I attended–the Q&A with Jhonen Vasquez, best known for being the mind behind Invader Zim, another longstanding favorite of my household. Vasquez turned out to be younger than I expected, but also hysterical–a bit of an asshole, but in a funny kind of way. He winged it through most of his panel, given that a lot of what he wanted to talk about he could not in fact do so until a later panel that should have come first, due to scheduling mixups.
Vasquez is apparently a bit weary of mostly everybody knowing him for Zim and nothing else, and isn’t shy about letting people know that. It was, however, fun to hear him talk passionately about the console games he likes, as well as discussing some of his other work.
This past weekend, my household converged on Emerald City Comicon, along with a houseguest–a friend of mine who’d come all the way from Norway to visit us, and to attend the convention as well! (My poor friend came down with strep throat during his visit, but happily we got him treated beforehand, and liberal doses of antibiotics got him up to speed to be able to attend the convention. Otherwise there would have been SADNESS.)
Since this was my first Comicon of any kind, I didn’t really know what to expect. I’m not a huge comics reader and never have been, with the gigantic exception of Elfquest. I don’t do superhero comics for the most part, though I have a history of dabbling in X-Men from way back in middle school. These days, I am actually doing a little bit of digital comics reading, but I’ve been focusing that on the Buffy season 8 and season 9 releases from Dark Horse, as well as their Firefly and Serenity stuff. And, I’ve been amusing myself with a Star Trek run of stories adapting TOS-era plotlines to use in the continuity of the new movies. There ARE a small number of webcomics I follow as well–xkcd, Kevin and Kell, and a lovely little thing called Fox Sister.
Mostly, though… I don’t follow the big storylines from Marvel or DC. Which makes me a bit sad. I love me some superheros, but I’m hugely alienated by the ongoing sexism of the art and the storylines. So I relate a lot better to superheros as they’re depicted in excellent animation like the wonderful years-long continuity that included the Batman, Superman, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited cartoons. I’ve been consistently entertained by the Marvel movie adaptations, for the most part. And as y’all know, I adored the Avengers.
So when I went through the exhibition floor at the con and saw an endless stream of female characters depicted with enormous breasts and spines twisted in angles that NOBODY WOULD EVER POSE IN EVER, all for the sake of showing off their breasts and their bottoms… all I could think was ‘yeah, mostly? This is not art intended for me‘. I was particularly sad to see one big-breasted depiction of Phoenix from the X-Men, and another of Wonder Woman with a thong so tiny she was practically nude. In both cases, the characters were depicted with dewy-eyed ‘can has sexytimes now pls?’ expressions.
Definitely not art for me.
Happily, though, there were shining exceptions to this. One was, of course, Wendy and Richard Pini’s presence at the con. Elfquest is hands down one of the most formative influence on me as a writer ever. When I had Kiri Moth do the Faerie Blood cover, in fact, I pointed her at images of Leetah and Rayek from Elfquest and told her, “Kendis looks like the child these two characters never had.” But even aside from what my brain always insists elves should look like, the values of tolerance upheld by the lead elf characters all throughout the history of the series peal through my heart. And some of the strongest female characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading about have come straight out of the pages of this series.
(If you’re new to Elfquest, I cannot recommend it highly enough. It’s ALL available to be read for free on elfquest.com. GO! Go look at the pretty!)
Wendy and Richard did an excellent panel about the history of the series and what we can expect from it in the future, and I happily leapt on the opportunity to not only let my friend Yngvar buy me an Elfquest shirt at the con, but to also order two more from the site now selling them. I also ordered from the Pinis a special hardback edition of one of Wendy’s non-Elfquest works, her SF adaptation of Masque of the Red Death. This, hands down, was the highlight of the con for me.
Here’s the shirt that Yngvar got me! This is a reworked version of a design I used to have on a pale orange shirt, which had the caption “To Hunt, to Howl, to Live Free”, as I recall. Here it’s been redone to be a Comicon exclusive, and I do admit to a bit of fangirly squee to see that Wolfrider with the Space Needle in the background!
To Hunt, to Howl, to Live Free (in Seattle)
That said, though, I did also find one other set of graphic novels I want to read–a three-part series called Anne Steelyard, authored by the well-respected Barbara Hambly! This thing’s supposed to be set in an Indiana-Jones-esque timeframe, only the lead character is in fact a woman. Looking forward to diving into this, too.
And we bought pretty prints of art inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender, Avatar: The Legend of Korra, and Doctor Who. And we saw lots of awfully nifty costumes–especially my and Dara’s friend Torrey, a master-class costumer now who’s won awards at Worldcon. We found her wandering the con in her Prince Zuko costume, again from Avatar: The Last Airbender. 😀
I bought two other shirts as well–both of which were Han-Solo-themed. Just to show that there was merch at this thing Relevant to My Interests. ‘Cause seriously, this shirt? How could I NOT get this shirt?
The Most Scoundrelicious Shirt in the Universe
All in all I think I still found more to relate to at ECCC than I have to date at PAX–and I’d consider doing a one-day jaunt to future cons. People who are more in comics than I am should definitely go.
ETA: Oh, right, duh, I totally forgot to mention the other actual panel I attended–the Q&A with Jhonen Vasquez, best known for being the mind behind Invader Zim, another longstanding favorite of my household. Vasquez turned out to be younger than I expected, but also hysterical–a bit of an asshole, but in a funny kind of way. He winged it through most of his panel, given that a lot of what he wanted to talk about he could not in fact do so until a later panel that should have come first, due to scheduling mixups.
Vasquez is apparently a bit weary of mostly everybody knowing him for Zim and nothing else, and isn’t shy about letting people know that. It was, however, fun to hear him talk passionately about the console games he likes, as well as discussing some of his other work.
Throughout most of my life, I haven’t been a huge comics reader. There have been notable exceptions to this–Elfquest of course being the biggest. I paid a bit of attention to The X-Men and Excalibur when I was in Kentucky. More recently, I’ve bought the Dark Horse Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 graphic novels, and their various Firefly and Serenity stories. And I’ve gotten at least the first of the graphic novel adaptations of jimbutcher‘s Storm Front.
But that’s been about it, really. There are a few reasons for this: one, I’ve got plenty of novels I want to read, and have very little mental bandwidth left over to seek out comics as well. Two, I’m finicky about my subject matter. Three, I’m finicky about the art; Wendy Pini set a REALLY high bar for me with Elfquest, and even now, that’s hard to beat. Four, I’ve got very little interest in physical copies of comics these days, for much the same reasons I’ve got less interest in print copies of books: i.e., I do most of my reading on my daily commute, and any paper copy of something I’m carrying around is likely to get beaten up by being carried in my backpack.
That said? I’m actually tempted by IDW’s new line of Star Trek stories that take plotlines from the original series and adapt them using the reboot versions of the characters. Yes, I know–the reboot Trek flick was very silly. But I really rather liked it all the same, despite its spectacularly goofy science. And I’m intrigued by the idea of what this line of comics might do with the plotlines; I was always a TOS girl, when it comes to Trek.
And since IDW does have various free versions of their apps, I could even buy this comic digitally if I so chose. I’ve seen that the Dark Horse comics I’ve picked up digitally are beautiful on the iPad, and that nicely solves the problems of space and abuse of physical copies.
I may have to get this. I’m still pondering; IDW’s app has a bit of a preview up for issue #1 of this line, and it does look tempting!
I’ve been total Scattershot Girl when it comes to blogging for some time–like many, I’ve found most of my day to day online communication shunted over to Twitter and Facebook. But that said, I’ve had several recent lovely things happen that are worth sharing with you all in longer, blog-based form. So! In no particular order:
Finally saw The King’s Speech, since spazzkat got it via Netflix. That was a very satisfying film, and I’m not at all surprised that it’s spawned so much fanfic across my various Friends lists and such. Everyone in that film did an amazing job, and I have much increased respect for Mr. Colin Firth now. Also, mad love for the scene where the speech therapist’s wife comes home and discovers the King and Queen in her dining room. :D
Also, as of today, finally saw Source Code with solarbird. Mad, mad props to mamishka for recommending that! It’s a nice, tight little SF flick, and if you like alternate-reality type plots, try to catch this before it vanishes entirely. If you’re local to Seattle, it’s still playing at the Meridian 16 downtown, and it’s running at the Crest as well.
I have finally found a way I might actually read more comic books: the Dark Horse comics app for the iPad. I installed this on the grounds that a couple weekends back, Dark Horse had a sale of all its digital versions of Serenity and Firefly comics. Since I didn’t have Shepherd’s Tale yet, I thought what the hey, I’d buy ‘em all. The iPad is definitely more suited to digital comics reading than the iPhone, that’s for sure, although the iPhone does actually talk to this app as well.
Also on the iPad, I have a shiny new app called TunePal, recommended to me by Marilyn, one of the fiddle players who attends the weekly session solarbird and I have been going to. Those of you who know the Shazam app will find the way this works familiar; it basically identifies songs. But in this case, it identifies traditional Irish tunes! You can play them at the app on an actual instrument, or, it’ll identify ‘em if you’re playing them in iTunes as well. Then it goes out and hits up a big ol’ database and yoinks back several guesses as to what it thinks you just played it. It’ll show you sheet music for its guesses, and it’ll play the sheet music for you as well. And, you can add tunes out of the database manually by searching for them as well. You can’t import your own tunes, which is my only complaint about the app, but it’s otherwise very, very cool. Any of my fellow music geeks out there who are interested in trad tunes, you should be checking this out.
Speaking of the iPhone, my coworker Joe pointed me at my new favorite iPhone game: Tiny Wings. You play a birdie with, of course, tiny tiny wings, and the object of the game is to get the birdie to fly as far as possible by tapping. It’s super-cute and only 99 cents, so check it out.
FOLKLIFE! Well, that deserves a whole separate post, but I’m noting it here anyway.
And while I am still technically on book buying hiatus, I’ve picked up a few freebies. And I will unrepentantly, UNREPENTANTLY I TELL YOU, break hiatus wide open to buy seanan_mcguire/Mira Grant’s Deadline this week. Because GIMME. Seriously.
My friend ravyngyngvar is sending me a Blu-Ray of a-ha’s last concert in Oslo! Thank you, Yngvar!
I am sorely behind on Doctor Who posts, and will shortly be doing a catchup post. It’s an indicator of how much I’ve not been paying attention to the net lately that I totally missed that BBC America did NOT air the second half of the two-parter on Saturday, to wit, bah. I did not however give enough of a damn about this to actually try to find and download the episode; it’ll air next week as far as I know, and I can wait that long. Especially given that we’re about to have the mid-season hiatus anyway. Just nobody spoil me, mmkay, those of you who’ve already caved and downloaded the ep anyway?
And because it’s always worth saying, mmmmm blackberries of my marketboys mmmmmm.
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