Tagged: Wonder Woman

COMICS REVIEW: Amazons Attack

COMICS REVIEW: Amazons Attack

At Heroes Con in Charlotte this past June, one convention goer asked DC EIC Dan DiDio what was the point of Amazons Attack. “What’s the point of any comic?” DiDio quipped back, leaving me to believe that the point was in fact simply to separate me from eighteen dollars and eat up ten minutes of my life for each of six months.

It’s been a couple of shaky years in the world of [[[Wonder Woman]]] fandom; turning her into a killer, handing the mantle off to Donna Troy – which you would have missed if you blinked, the “who is Wonder Woman?” plotline which I’m not even sure has started but was touted as ”next” at the end of issue #4, which then begs the mention of the sporatic publication of the book itself mere months into the re-launch of the series.

After all that, “the first major comics event of 2007,” as the house ads touted, should have given us six action packed issues that could not be contained in the regular monthly title. Instead, [[[Amazons Attack]]] was confusing, boring and left me month after month echoing that Charlotte fan’s question.

Why was this a mini-series? This story could have easily been told in the pages of the monthly [[[Wonder Woman]]] book, and then perhaps they wouldn’t have replicated numerous scenes in multiple publications across one month, while leaving questions up in the air because it was so easy to not pick up a tie-in or read them out of order. Was the project ill-conceived or just poorly managed?

The art was amazingly varied from the main AA book to the tie-ins, it was sometimes hard to see where they tied in since there visual cues were often non-existent. Sadly, the art in the main title fell short: there was something lacking in what Pete Woods did that left the characters looking very flat and ill-defined facially.

It only being a few hours since I finished the series, it hasn’t sunk in yet that the whole thing served only one purpose: to set up Jim Starlin’s The Death of the New Gods.

***Spoiler Alert (but I see it as saving you the trouble of reading this mess)**

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BIG BROADCAST: Cruise is Wonder Woman

BIG BROADCAST: Cruise is Wonder Woman

The Big ComicMix Broadcast kicks off our week long look at collecting toys with a shopping trip to one of the biggest online action figure dealers and a sneak peek at what the next wave of hot product will be. Then, speaking of hot product, it’s time for another dive into this week’s pile of new comics and DVDs ,including a preview of Image Comics’ Bonds #1 from creator Durwin Talon. AND we’ve got the latest news of Kristen Bell on Heroes  and Katie Holmes as…WONDER WOMAN?

Insert your own Tom Cruise joke here and PRESS THE BUTTON!

MICHAEL DAVIS: It’s a real mad mad mad world part 1

MICHAEL DAVIS: It’s a real mad mad mad world part 1

  • News
  • August 17, 2007

What is up with heroes today? I just got back from Wizard World Chicago and as I was walking around the con I took notice of the posters, billboards and other comic company signage. What I observed with little exception is the look on the heroes faces… they all looked mad. I mean they looked pissed.

I ask again, what is up with heroes today?

Do all the comic companies have a template for posters? Stop me if you’re seen this: the hero or heroes are standing with a smoke filled background or battlefield usually the background is an orange or red hue. They stand with this look of utter anger. They all look like the first words they would say to you upon meeting you at a funeral is I will kick your ass!

I remember when Superman would… smile. Wow, what a concept a hero who stands for truth, justice and the American way smiling once in a while. I remember when Superman was a role model and he would stand there with his hands on his hips legs firmly planted on the ground looking out at the reader with a HUGE smile on his face.

Heck, I remember when Bat-Man would smile from time to time. I saw a poster at the DC booth with Wonder Woman looking out at the viewer with that “mad look.” From what she looked like on that poster I am now sure that even comic book characters suffer from PMS.

Hey, I’m sure that there are posters and characters out there that smile or project a more positive attitude. I just don’t see them. Now Marvel and DC know their audience but there seems to me to be an effort out there to make everybody “hard,” as the rappers say. This look is not new to the comic world. In fact it’s ripped off completely from Hip-Hop.

When’s the last time anybody ever saw a rapper smile on an album cover? The “Hard” look is everywhere. Look at high fashion models and that stupid look… football players… baseball players… heck, now opera singers stare out from their posters looking like Biggie Smalls.

As I said before Marvel and DC know their audience and they are the market leaders, so this is what the public must want.

But (as you knew there would be) …

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BIG BROADCAST: The Creator Behind The Controversy

BIG BROADCAST: The Creator Behind The Controversy

Earlier this week, ComicMix covered recent developments in the case of Georgia comic retailer Gordon Lee. On The Big Comicmix Broadcast today, we talk to the creator whose project The Salon is at the heart of this legal battle… and we offer you your chance to produce your own music video, and Wonder Woman misses another deadline, and we’ve got the story of a girl singer that CBS wanted to be Madonna.

PRESS THE BUTTON or we’ll tell you what DC publisher Paul Levitz used to call Wonder Woman!

MARTHA THOMASES: Hot Fun in the Summertime

MARTHA THOMASES: Hot Fun in the Summertime

  • News
  • August 11, 2007

Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.  Fish are jumpin, and the cotton is high.  Or so I’m told.  Living in a major metropolitan area in the twenty-first century, I have to take such things on faith.

This summer, the fun times for someone like me are largely political.  The presidential election is over a year away.  The first primaries are six months away.  Nothing is going to be decided any time soon, so I can pretend it will all turn out for the best. 

I spent the summer I was 15 going “clean for Gene,” campaigning for Eugene McCarthy, who was running against Lyndon Johnson for the Democratic nomination on an anti-war platform.  Four years later, I ran as an alternate delegate for George McGovern. Four years ago, I nearly got arrested outside the Republican convention up the street from here.  Presidential campaigns are fun!

Which is not to say they couldn’t be much more fun.  The problem is that presidential candidates tend to be politicians.  They spend all their time hustling campaign funds, writing policy, and meeting the public.  They go on the Sunday morning news shows and show how serious they are.  They go on Oprah or The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to show they’re regular folks who can take a joke.

They don’t save the world from alien invasions.  They don’t even fight crime.

Presidential campaigns would be a lot more fun if, instead of Republicans versus Democrats, it was Marvel versus DC.   For example debates between:

 

Captain America and Superman on immigration reform.

Luke Cage and John (Green Lantern) Stewart on affirmative action.

Thor and Wonder Woman about the separation of Church and State.

Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne on the inheritance tax.

Storm and Aquaman on global warming.

The Punisher and Batman on prison reform.

Professor X and Green Arrow on family values.

The Avengers and the Justice League on national security.

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Giant Lego Man: Threat or Menace?

Giant Lego Man: Threat or Menace?

  • News
  • August 10, 2007

 

 

 Baffling News Story of the Day: Dutch children discover and befriend a giant Lego man in the sea. AOL claims that he’s “smiling,” but I’m more familiar with the standard Lego faces than they are – that, my friend, is a smirk, which means this story is not yet done. (Hey, I just had a thought — any chance that this guy is the monster from the secret "Cloverfield" movie?)

Comics Reporter reaches way back to review 1967’s Marvel Collector’s Item Classics #13.

Neil Gaiman talks to NPR about Stardust (you’ll have to listen to it, not read it).

Comics Alliance interviews Eddie Campbell.

Sequential Tart interviews Gail Simone about her plans for Wonder Woman.

USA Today has a graphic novel roundup.

The Ephemerist thinks that Garfield is the new Nancy. When I see Jim Davis drawing three lasagna pans in the background, then I’ll worry.

Chris’s Invincible Super-Blog reviews Nick Abadzis’s graphic novel Laika. (Which I’ve just read; look for a review here in a few days, Gawd willing and the creek don’t rise.)

Comics Should Be Good’s latest Reason to Love Comics: Fin Fang Foom, baby!

Ralph’s Comic Corner of Ventura, CA was recently robbed. But it’s not as bad as it would have been – the robbers “walked by actual cash money to steal Spawn and Witchblade.”

Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing thinks Brian Talbot’s Alice in Sunderland is the “single weirdest graphic novel [he’s] ever enjoyed.” I smell a pull-quote for the second edition!

Dana of Comic Fodder reviews her usual weekly batch of Marvel comics.

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Superman Meets Superboy

Superman Meets Superboy

  • News
  • August 2, 2007

Dean Cain, teevee’s second on-going Superman and the fourth in the cape, will be guest-starring on Smallville in the role of the murderous Dr. Curtis Knox.

Previous Smallville guest-stars included Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder (both, of course, from the Warner Bros. movie series) and Wonder Woman‘s Lynda Carter. The former star of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman will appear in the fourth episode of the season seven, according to Variety.

The New Lara Croft Lowdown

The New Lara Croft Lowdown

While at SDCC last week, I sat down with Ricardo Sanchez, VP of Content for Gametap and creator of Gametap TV’s Re/Visioned series, and writer Gail Simone (Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey) to learn a little more about what the gaming site had in store for fans with their re-interpretation of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

For those unfamiliar with Gametap.com, it’s a PC gaming site that has both free ad supported and a subscription service. With their biggest coup having made the 10th Anniversary Tomb Raider game available to subscribers for download the same day it was out in stores. Owned by Turner and a sister company to the Cartoon Network, they’re taking advantage of their position by trying to be a gaming lifestyle site, rather than just a place to play and download games. Part of that move is Gametap TV, an Internet broadcast channel that was launched with A Day in the Extra Life series.

Gametap decided to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Lara Croft in several ways, the aforementioned game launch, a retrospective documentary that is available for viewing on the site and a ten episode run launching the Re/Visioned series with a wishlist of great artists and writers, including Peter Chung, Jim Lee, Warren Ellis and Gail Simone. Actress Minnie Driver will be voicing Lara for all the episodes.

There will be seven different Lara stories in total, starting with the three part “Keys to the Kingdom” by Peter Chung (Aeon Flux) which is already up on the site, along with the Brian Puludo / David Alvarez comedic episode “Revenge of the Aztec Mummy.” The very thought of an Aztec mummy was so humorous (or, perhaps, ludicrous) to Warren Ellis he couldn’t help himself from fits of laughter during the SDCC Gametap panel. Ellis’ story is a two-parter entitled “Angel Spit” (art by Cully Hamner) which was screened at SDCC and should be up this week.

I was curious as to how a writer goes about taking a character people know from an established game and tells a compelling new story. In our sit-down I posed that question to Gail Simone, who said her take was to “decide what character traits Lara would have in place” if she “dialed her back” to her preteen years. Simone’s story places a 12-year old Croft in boarding school. From there the “story wrote itself.”

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A Wonder Woman-less New Frontier?

A Wonder Woman-less New Frontier?

On Sunday, The New York Times gave Warner Home Video’s forthcoming direct-to-DVD adaptation of Daryn Cooke’s The New Fontier the preview treatment, ahead of its "official" preview in San Diego later this week.

Noting the D2DVD will be one of three "adult-oriented DC projects," the Times noted neither Wonder Woman nor Lois Lane made the first cut in the movie. As you can see from the above art, WW was restored after Cooke’s objected – as was Lois.

The 70 minute feature directed by Dave Bullock will be released in February.

Super Hero Comics and Art

Super Hero Comics and Art

  • News
  • July 19, 2007

I took my two sons (ages six and nine) off to the Montclair NJ Art Museum Thursday afternoon for an exhibition with the unwieldy title Reflecting Culture: The Evolution of American Comic Book Superheroes. (The picture at the top is the free giveaway comic that MAM has in lieu of a catalog or list of exhibits.)

The materials on exhibit are a roughly even mixture of original art and published comics, ranging from a 1906 Little Nemo in Slumberland page to an issue of Marvel’s recent Civil War. The focus, though, is on the major superhero comics characters, from the Golden Age through today. So there’s a lot of Superman and Batman in the earlier sections, and then a lot of Marvel heroes once the exhibit gets into the 1960s. The original art tends to be by major names – I remember seeing work by Dave Cockrum, Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, and Dave Gibbons – including some very well-known interior pages and covers.

The exhibition is organized around real-world trends and events: World War II, the Wertham years of the ‘50s, the “relevance” years of the ‘60s and ‘70s, and so on up to a display case of 9/11 comics. The small size of the exhibition and tight focus on superheroes doesn’t always work in its favor – their Wertham area contains no EC horror comics, and I didn’t even see any reference to Wertham’s claim that Batman and Robin’s relationship was essentially homosexual. There also doesn’t seem to be a guiding philosophy other than “comics reflected their world,” which is applied very simplistically and obviously. (There’s all the covers you expect from the late ‘60s, for example – the “Speedy is a junkie,” the “black Green Lantern,” the “why do you always help the purple people,” and the Nehru-jacketed depowered Wonder Woman.)

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