Tagged: Blue Beetle

What I Can’t Write About, by Elayne Riggs

What I Can’t Write About, by Elayne Riggs

So last week my column was criticized for not being primarily about comics, the same day that my fellow columnist John Ostrander got over a dozen comments writing about politics, not one of which queried the appropriateness of his subject matter. Obviously people who have written and drawn comics for a living (Denny, Michael, etc.) can get a little more slack than someone who’s only ever written four comic book stories and had them all published. Not that I’m bitter! Oh no, indeedy; I’m actually grateful those critiques have given me fodder for this week’s column!

As I mentioned in my reply to this criticism, I understand some readers’ frustration with me not writing about comics more often. Even my mom asks me why I don’t focus on comics more often, and she doesn’t even read the stuff! But after all, ComicMix is a pop-culture site dominated by people heavily invested in the artform. Heck, that’s what CM 2.0 is all about, giving our readers original comics content. And we haven’t yet introduced a separate tab for our columns to distinguish them from our regular pop-culture news, so it’s probably reasonable to expect that we columnists will focus on comics as much as our news reporters do. And I love reading comics, but… but…

But nowadays, when I talk about my favorite reading material and hobby and community, I can usually only discuss what’s happened recently, not what’s going to happen in the near future or even Right This Very Week. As many of you know, this wasn’t always the case. About 10-15 years ago I did weekly comic book reviews on Usenet and CompuServe under the header "Pen-Elayne For Your Thoughts." I’d get the books on a Wednesday and most of the reviews would be up by Friday. My job at the time allowed me to do this, I was being somewhat under-used (technology and outsourcing would eliminate that position in ’97) and I had plenty of energy when I got home. Then I got a new job which proceeded to harness a lot of that energy, so the reviews had to go, I just couldn’t keep them up any more.

When I married Robin, I stopped buying most DC books the week they hit the stores, because as a regular freelancer for DC he receives a comp box each month of all the "pamphlets" they put out. For a time the comps were usually current to within a couple weeks of what was in the stores, so I could still keep up as plot discussions moved from Usenet to message boards. But by the time blogs became big, the synching had fallen a bit behind. (The new comp box arrived at our house on Monday, and I now have all the Countdown issues up until "04," when of course the current big discussion is about the final issue.

I also now have the first issue of Tangent: Superman’s Reign so I can finally read issue #2 which Robin inked and which came out in stores the Wednesday prior to the NY Comic Con. Just to give you an idea of the lag time here.) Four years ago, when my boss moved the office out to Westchester, my weekly visits to Midtown Comics to view the new books and collect my non-DC haul became an every other (or every third) week mail order. And because I no longer had the new comics when most of the active online discussions took place, I could no longer participate. By the time I acquire and read the book featuring the return of Barry Allen, or the mostly-Spanish issue of Blue Beetle that has this xenophobe’s drawers in a bunch, it will be well into June and everyone will have long since moved on.

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Cartoon Network Reveals ‘The Brave and the Bold’ Series

Cartoon Network Reveals ‘The Brave and the Bold’ Series

After The Batman went off the air, we all knew it wouldn’t be too long before the caped crusader returned to animation in a different form. Cartoon Network has finally revealed the form in which Batman will be return. This time, he won’t be alone.

The Brave and the Bold will team Batman up with different DC superheroes each episode. Some of the heroes confirmed for the series include Green Arrow, Blue Beetle (the Jaime Reyes version), Green Lantern and Aquaman. The series is described as equal parts comedy and high stakes action.

The show will run on Friday nights as part of an action themed block of cartoons that also includes Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Ben 10: Alien Force and The Secret Saturdays. A premiere date has not yet been announced.

(via TV Guide)

 

On This Day: Peter Gross and Cully Hamner

On This Day: Peter Gross and Cully Hamner

Peter Gross has been working in comics since the 1990s, when he self-published the black-and-white series Empire Lanes. He’s best known for his work on DC’s Books of Magic and Lucifer but he also did artwork for Marvel’s Dr. Strange, Sorcerer Supreme and Hellstorm: Prince of Lies lines and for Dark Horse titles Chosen and The Mask: The Hunt for Green October. Gross also taught at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, where he helped set up a comic art program.

Cully Hamner has done art on such series as The Authority, Green Lantern, Uncanny X-Men, and Spider-Man. These days he’s best known for his work on the relaunched Blue Beetle series for DC, initially written by Keith Giffen.

Stargate expands, Illuminati escapes, Barbie’s electronic!

Stargate expands, Illuminati escapes, Barbie’s electronic!

A new week and a new ComicMix Broadcast where we lay out miles of four color fun waiting for you at the comic stores this week, plus some DVD treats that range from Blue Beetle to Uncle Scrooge to our pal, Dr. Johnny Fever. From there, it’s a sharp left to Hannibal Lechter’s song debut (you won’t believe it!), plastic Barbie girls get electric, and a lot of truly major Stargate stuff. And now you, too, can sing along to the Marquis de Sade!

Press the button. It’s good for you!

2007 Shuster Award Nominees Announced

2007 Shuster Award Nominees Announced

Named after Canada’s most famous cartoonist, the Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards nominees have been released. Mr. Shuster, of course, was the co-creator of Superman – the original visual look and feel of fabled Metropolis was based upon Toronto.

The winners will be announced at a Satuday, June 9th ceremony at the Holiday Inn, 370 King Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, during the weekend of the Paradise Toronto Comicon.

According to their press release, the 2007 Shuster Award nominees are:

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More Green Lantern geopolitics

More Green Lantern geopolitics

David Ben-GurionWe bring you this from Kung-Fu Monkey John Rogers: "In researching [Blue Beetle] #14, I discovered that the Guardians of the Universe, the dudes who run the Green Lanterns — their appearance is based on Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. That means, in the DCU, the Jews just don’t control the media, they control the UNIVERSE."

Oh, I can hear the keyboards clattering away as people start rewriting their own versions of the GL Theory of Geopolitics, claiming that the Israeli flag is blue just like the Guardians’ skin, and Israel stands only because of its willpower and… hmm.

This makes the Zamarons some shiksa goddesses, nu?