tellitslant | Entries tagged with comics

I have been gleefully anticipating the release of The Old Guard on Netflix. It's based on the comic written by Greg Rucka, and he wrote the screenplay as well, so it was already high on my list. THEN they cast Charlize Theron and I was pretty damn gone.

It came out on Friday and I solidly enjoyed it. The comics are planned as a three-volume set, and the second volume concludes this coming Wednesday; the producers of the film hope to be able to adapt the other two volumes as well, so I am Strongly Encouraging people to check it out! Some other reasons to support it:

the director, Gina Prince-Bythewood, is the first Black woman to direct a comic-book action film;
the editor, Terilyn A. Shropshire, is the first Black woman to edit a comic-book action film;
Charlize Theron fights with a double-bladed axe;
two queer main characters (one more whose queerness is subtextual but canon in vol.2 of the comics);
they are immortal, so no gays get buried;
KiKi Layne from If Beale Street Could Talk plays Nile, the newbie, and she is GREAT;
Greg once described Andy (Theron's character) as analogous to Slappy Squirrel from Animaniacs; "the whole damn world needs to get off her lawn." This charms me.
Did I mention I extremely want the sequel? I extremely want the sequel.
The rest of the cast is also fantastically diverse in a way that comic-book films just aren't, because the Big Two suck. Rounding out the main cast: Matthias Schoenaerts; Marwan Kenzari; Luca Marinelli; Chiwetel Ejiofor. Let's make this sell.
All those 'world-weary mentor meets charmingly naïve mentee' pairings that people love? Andy and Nile, man.
The balance of tone in this film - the shifts from action to quiet interpersonal connection - are brilliantly handled.
I want to learn to fight with a double-bladed axe now.

It is violent, so if you're extremely anti-blood it may not be for you, but the violence is definitely not the biggest part of the film. If you're looking for something to watch and you want to make me happy, give it a try! And come talk to me about it. Please and thanks. :D

feeling cheerful

...I am really excited about the WEIRD SHIT that comics are getting into lately. I visited my comics store today and finally picked up a copy of INSEXTS #1, which i knew about because the writer, Marguerite Bennett, is currently writing the DC Bombshells WWII AU. Anyways, this one, well, the blurb I'd read was 'Victorian lesbian insect shapeshifters,' and that is... basically what it does on the tin, but with a small helping of gore. Not usually my thing! But this is creepy enough to be very interesting, and I'll definitely be following it through at least a few issues.

Be aware: it is definitely not safe to read in public, like, say, in the lobby of a movie theatre, for example. *whistles innocently*

feeling tired
x-posted http://tellitslant.livejournal.com/1419884.html

zulu asked me to suggest comics with interesting art that would be suitable for junior high-age students, and though it wasn't technically part of my December meme thing (request more topics!), I thought I'd share. :P

A lot of the stuff I find most interesting currently is creator-owned work that I'm not sure would be age-appropriate, but I did come up with two comics that I think would be really interesting in terms of pushing the comics art envelope.

The first is Batwoman - but please note that I cannot countenance recommending anything in the current DC universe, so I specifically mean the pre-reboot Batwoman by Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III, collected in Batwoman: Elegy.

J.H.'s art is... magical. What I love most about his work on Batwoman, though, is his incredibly creative work with panels and page layouts. A lot of traditional comics thinking relies on a certain number of panels and/or flow, but J.H. subverts that and creates incredibly intricate, organic, beautiful full pages, double pages, and panels. For example:
Batman and Batwoman – speech not needed to convey the tension or the progression
Batwoman in a fight – this is post-reboot, but such a great example of not needing defined panels to move the action
Batwoman drugged – even in pencils and not coloured, the confusion of the drugging comes through
Batwoman and Alice - parallels! panel structure! gorgeousness!
J.H. also switches between art styles and creates new panel styles for each of them. Highly recommended, and not just for Zulu's class. :P

The other comic that sprang to mind was the current run of Hawkeye, by Matt Fraction and David Aja – particularly issue #11, which is told entirely from the POV of Hawkeye's dog. I'm actually way behind on this comic, but I know that the issue also retells events from a previous issue, only from different angles and without the use of human speech. The way that the narrative progresses mostly without speech bubbles and the ability to see the same events told by the same writer and artist from two very different perspectives might be quite neat.
Pizza Dog perspective | Two
Pizza Dog solves murders

(Actually his name is Lucky, not Pizza Dog)

Those are my thoughts – if anyone else wants to chime in for the edification of Zulu's classes, I'm sure your thoughts would also be welcome. :P

feeling tired
x-posted http://tellitslant.livejournal.com/1391668.html

Okay, thanks everyone who keeps asking me to write about comics and stuff, because I just went back and re-read a bunch of my DCU fic and oh, yeah. That's why I'm fannish about them.

(Also I've definitely done some of my best writing for Jeannette and for Renee. Um. Neither of whom exist in comics canon any more. Which is why I am no longer so fannish. Dammit, pendulum swing.)

feeling chipper
hearing Lorde - A World Alone
x-posted http://tellitslant.livejournal.com/1391221.html

Dear

femslash12 author: eeee yay you're writing me a fic! I love you already. :D I am going to babble a little bit about what I like in fic in general before moving on to what I like about the specific fandoms and pairings I listed; if you already have some ideas, please feel free to ignore the second part of this altogether and write whatever floats your boat.

( generalities )

( specificities – Warehouse 13, The Good Wife, Sanctuary, Captain Marvel )

feeling happy
x-posted http://tellitslant.livejournal.com/1381537.html

Re my post last week about Renee's role in the DCnU, Dan DiDio has apparently answered the question...

feeling awake
x-posted http://tellitslant.livejournal.com/1345974.html

Soooo I picked up Justice League #1, the first of the 52 new books for DC's fancy-shmancy relaunch, and... not impressed. Without spoilers, it was basically a series of dudely dudes fighting each other to prove that no really, they are superheroes, they are! Sigh. And while it managed to intro four of the main male characters who will be featured in the book, the only female character with a speaking role was a nameless cheereader - cheering for the football team one of the heroes is on, of course - drawing attention to other of the male heroes as they fly past. Even not interrogating it from a gender perspetive, though, it was just kind of dull.

And okay, Greg Rucka gave me heck on twitter a few weeks ago for pointing out that the first isue of his Punisher didn't pass the Bechdel test; he argued that it was like judging an entire novel on the basis of its first chapter, which is a fair point. But in this case, JL 1 is meant to be the hook that draws an Entire New Readership!!1! into comics, and not only wasn't it new, it wasn't really all that innovative or great. So. We'll see. Thankfully the books that I'm actually interested in start hitting shelves next week. :D

Also, I am hearing - completely sourceless, so I have no idea if they're true - rumours that Renee Montoya is NOT going to continue as the Question in the new universe. I am so torn over this! Her arc from washed-out cop to superhero is one of my favourite things about comics ever and I will be incredibly sad if they erase it fully. I will be suprised if they 'de-power' her, as it were, after all the lip service about ensuring a more diverse DCU, because she is one of the more visible LGBT heroes. That said, I adore her in Gotham Central at least as much as I love her as the Question, and I think that sort of book - dealing with the ground-level realities of life for people without super powers or spandex - is one of the things that succesfully builds a universe rather than just a series of loosely connected heroes. Plus Renee in Gotham puts her in the same city as Helena and Babs and Kate, and if they keep her a cop maybe she will still be on Maggie's squad and the there could be ~drama~... But. Fneh. I am unsure what I want to happen here. (Also: hugely depends on who writes her. Anyone but Greg Rucka gets a preemptive side-eye from me...)

ANYWAYS COMICS, shiny things on paper woooo. Work to do now.

feeling busy
hearing Suzanne & I - Anna Calvi
x-posted http://tellitslant.livejournal.com/1345165.html

eta: hoshit! I can't believe I forgot to link to this! You MUST go watch

beccatoria's fantastic Wonder Woman vidlet to "Holding Out for a Hero"! GO NOW. /eta

The subject came up on Twitter, and then

beccatoria posted her DCnU pull list, and, well, I'm trying to figure mine out. So here's what I'll probably be buying come September...

Batgirl
Babs is my Batgirl and always has been, plus I am interested to see what the actual story about her being out of the chair will be. I just hope she still has her PhD in Library Science... :P (No, really: I'm sorry to lose Oracle, for so many reasons, but. Babs as Batgirl again, in a non-pre-Crisis world. Yes please.)

Batwoman
Finally finally finally FINALLY FINALLY I GET KATE KANE BACK. AND Bette Kane. And Maggie Sawyer. I've only been waiting on this forever, no big deal. Plus J.H. Williams III and Amy Reeder art throughout the series. So gorgeous!

Huntress
Okay, this is a mini and doesn't start till October but WHATEVER. HELENA. Paul Levitz wrote a lot of Helena Wayne's pre-Crisis Earth-2 adventures, which I loved and am currently re-reading (please let Power Girl show up, damn), and his intro to the Darknight Daughter trade that I have somewhere was really lovely. Plus it's tying in with BoP so yay!

Justice League Dark
Madame Xanadu and Zatanna! I'm pretty much sold just on that. The recent Madame Xanadu series (mainly drawn by Amy Reeder, which made me very happy about her work to come on Batwoman) set out some amazing backstory that I hope will remain consistent-ish. Plus, Zee! :D

Voodoo
The recent Advocate interview with Dan DiDio revealed that Voodoo is bisexual, which I did not know! I'd been considering the book before then, because it looks interesting, but that may have bumped it up to for-sure status. I am a little concerned about the emphasis on sexiness in the solicits, though.

Wonder Woman
I am kind of on the fence for WW? Chiang's art looks incredible and I've heard good things about Azzarello, the writer, but the current JMS/Hester run is just so wrong. Still, this new run seems to be going back to her mythology and the gods, which makes me optimistic, especially that they're including Eris (see also: Perez's and Jimenez's uses of the golden apples, squee).

I may beg, borrow, or download the following to check them out:
Firestorm - because of Gail Simone, and also mid-90s Firestorm was interesting, IIRC.
The Savage Hawkman - alien archaeology, plus Philip Tan art. Welllll... maybe.
Catwoman - did you know she's sexy? Sexy sexy Catwoman! Again, I may pick this up to see if it's actually good, or just all about The Sexy.
Birds of Prey - so unsure about this one. I mean, I love Gail's take on them so much and will miss that group, but this does sound interesting (they're covert ops - spies, guys, spies!), and Huntress will be tying in...
Blackhawks - but will Zinda be in it?
Men of War - solely because the solicit for issue #2 has Circe in it!
Demon Knights - this just looks interesting, dangit. (And not just for Etrigan/Madame Xanadu. Um.)

That's more than double what I currently buy (Secret Six and BoP, and I was reading WW but it's just SO WRONG that I've actually stopped), which is pretty impressive because I am a damn picky comics reader. I may have to go digital for a few of these - I mean, I've stopped buying books proper, and comics may be lighter but they're a bitch to pack. :/ Not for Batwoman, though - that I want in full JHW-artistic glory!

I will also pick anything up if and when Renee Montoya appears in it (the DiDio interview in the Advocate mentions the Question in the title but not in the article, which is... concerning), plus I'm sure that Alex and I will be trading a few things back and forth. I have a feeling it's going to be a very comics-y autumn.

Note: I know there are a few people who follow me for comics reasons whom I haven't followed back, and I'd like to up the comics portion of my reading lists before this autumn. If you can/are following me on Dreamwidth, drop me a coment there and I'll add you back right off. If you're on LJ... drop me a comment anyways and I may friend you, if you don't mind that you'll suddenly also be getting Way Too Much Information about my grad school experience. :P

feeling busy
x-posted http://tellitslant.livejournal.com/1340736.html

Guys what is UP with Batwoman continually getting delayed. I AM NOT OKAY WITH THIS.

Yeah, Diana. I need a bear hug today too.

(It is all comics, all the time in my brain lately. I blame Tumblr.)

feeling busy
x-posted http://tellitslant.livejournal.com/1324668.html

Watching the wonder woman movie a couple of days ago made the tiny five-year-old fangirl inside me wake up and take notice, so I've been re-reading - in my spare time - the Wonder Woman comics from the beginning of volume 2. Oh, the Perez run! It set the standard for all the fabulousness to come - so dark! so mythological! so political!

So gay!

Man, it never ceases to amaze me both that Perez got away with the level of queerness he put into these comics and that I never picked up on it as a child. I mean, fine, there's nothing tremendously overt about it, but that's maybe what's most amazing. It's just there - the Amazon oracle, waking up in the middle of the night with a premonition, in bed with her female lover, who calls her "my beloved." One of the Bana-Mighdall Amazons demands to be allowed to have vengeance for the death of her female consort (granted, these are the same Amazons who have breeding pens full of male slaves, but WHATEVS). Or my personal favourite, when the Amazons allow humans on their island for the first time and someone asks whether they miss men, and Mnemosyne replies that some devote themselves to their faith, "others choose the way of Narcissus, but most of us find satisfaction in each other."

That may in fact be my favourite euphemism for masturbation ever. What, I like Classics jokes.

The fact is, I notice these things on re-reads, but I don't remember noticing them at all, which kind of both amuses and perplexes me. And granted, most of these characters die, or fade away and are replaced as new writers bring on their own supporting casts, and it's a loooong time before we get this level of awesome queerness again. But it makes me happy that it's there.

I miss the Amazons - hopefully whatever is going on with them will be resolved soonish, because boy would I love to see what Gail Simone could do with them long-term...

feeling cheerful
hearing Too Tough To Die - Martina Topley Bird

So, I'm not completely following the whole Infinite Crisis and One Year Later arcs in DC comics right now, but OMG Wonder Woman. *weeps* My poor Diana has really gotten the short end of the stick in the last couple of major DC events - first Queen Hippolyta dies, and now this!

Given that once again DC is relaunching WW (why, why do they do this to us?), I thought I should share some of the fantastic bits from the last couple of years of issues. And by fantastic bits, I largely mean gay, but also sometimes really, really touching.

First, there is no way this is going behind a cut. I don't have the scan any more, but this is at least the second time this particular epithet has popped up in WW:

Obviously it's an update of the ever-popular Silver Age "Suffering Sappho!" Which leads me to wonder what the Sapphic epithet in volume 3 will be.

Speaking of…

A scans_daily post that includes many many images and gives a lovely intro to ~~Diana's~~ everybody's favourite Amazon blacksmith, Io. (Spoilers from pre-Infinite Crisis events.)

And another s_d post, in which we follow up with Io - and all the other Amazons. Definite Crisis spoilers here, and oh this is so sad!

Seriously, at the end of volume 1 and Crisis on Infinite Earth, at least Diana got to marry Steve Trevor and live happily forever after in Olympus. This is just way too painful, although it does set up a potential new and exciting direction for Diana. But but but! *weeps*

And last but not least, just because. Superman and Diana discuss death (single image).

feeling sad

Obviously it's an update of the ever-popular Silver Age "Suffering Sappho!" Which leads me to wonder what the Sapphic epithet in volume 3 will be.

Speaking of…

feeling sad

So, I spent way too much money on comics yesterday (in my defence, I hadn't been in for three or four months), and really, I just have to share this for you. I'm mostly reading The New Avengers because, hello, Spider-Woman, but. I think I forgive Bendis for a lot of things, now.

(in the fine tradition of

scans_daily - Context is for the weak!)

It is funny on so many levels.

feeling amused

scans_daily - Context is for the weak!)

It is funny on so many levels.

feeling amused

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[bury your gays? IMMORTALISE YOUR GAYS]
[this is skirting the edge of not my thing but...]
[awww,comics]
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[femslash12 author letter!]
[ask the question]
[at least the reboot is getting me posting about comics again?]
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[quick, Robin, my Bat-anti-delay spray!]
[apparently I was innocent once. huh.]
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sailing the fingers of the dragon

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Entries tagged with comics

[bury your gays? IMMORTALISE YOUR GAYS]

[this is skirting the edge of not my thing but...]

[awww,comics]

[briefly]

[femslash12 author letter!]

[ask the question]

[at least the reboot is getting me posting about comics again?]

[comics comics comics]

[quick, Robin, my Bat-anti-delay spray!]

[apparently I was innocent once. huh.]

[comics]

[comics]

[comics]

[comics]

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February 2025

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