The Boomtube

Because comics are weird, and we love them.

[boomtubecomics]

HOLY FRANCHISE FRENZY, BATMAN!

By Stephanie Hoos 

I will never understand people’s instincts to “hack” or “leak” (or whatever axe murderer and/or plumbing euphemism is the latest and greatest in Internet lack of privacy). However, this most recent Sony splendor has unleashed a great deal of information for us comic book fans as well as moviegoers who mob the theaters to see the latest book to screen endeavor. The hack reveals that over 30 films will hit theaters in the next few years from the pre-established comic franchises and/or sequels. That said, comic fans have spent a great deal of 2014 listing their favorite comics and anthologies, and Marvel and DC have not made the greatest impression on readers. How is it that comic films have never been more popular but their companion books are going out of style?

Mark Harris,

in his recent review of Birdman

, also revealed the information he’s gleaned from the Marvel/DC movie hilarity.

Everyone weighed in on this list from Slate to indie comic blogs. Each opinion varied from disappointment to enthusiasm, but in scavenging the lists of favorite comics of 2014, very little of the lists included any of the franchise fodder that will show up on screen. Ms. Marvel and Gotham Academy aside, most of the movie releases are not at all related to what comic fans have considered the best of recent history. That said, who are these movies really for? What appetites are they actually satisfying?

The comic book audience has expanded to include – what I like to call – swag fans. They are fans of the merch as well as the newly found swagger that accompany comic book films, cons, and cosplay that’s become slightly more mainstream in today’s media consumption. Each new con that shows up across the country has even more merch to purchase as well as tie-in memorabilia for films and TV shows that are not necessarily rooted in comic fandom, but rather comic character fandom that’s explored through the tie-in products. With each expansion of comic fandom comes a funneling of what people would consider true dedication: the independent movement of comic books and graphic novels that defies what most would consider the world’s consumption of the product.

When the graphic novel Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh became a full-length feature film, the book’s popularity soared. However, many fans of the work were upset (much like most book fans when their favorite art becomes a new medium) at the extensive attention paid to the physical aspects of the story, rather than the story itself. Though graphic novels are a visceral medium, it is the restraint with which the panels portray character development that is so often missed with film. Even the most French-fried franchises once came from art and paneled media that left a great deal to the imagination and is now extremely watered down and spoon-fed to an international audience for the sake of mass consumption across language, nationality, ethnicity, and culture.

We’ve all been through the trauma of reading a book and seeing it “changed” to something that appears on a big screen. Rarely, though, do we experience the phenomenon of someone changing our favorite book because of something that was successful on screen. Each new Marvel and DC film greatly affects the comic books that they were inspired by because the books, whether we like it or not, are not serial comics. They have ever-changing storylines and vastly different editors/artists/writers from generation to generation of comic creation. There’s something really beautiful about that evolution, but now that comics are being purchased due to the rising popularity of comic characters on screen, many authors/artists/editors have to make the comics meet the demand of a movie audience, not the other way around anymore.

Since the world has become used to the comic book film, the general public’s reaction to the Sony hack as well as the comic book film information it revealed was mixed, at best. But in scavenging the best-of lists of 2014, it became clear that the ones who were most disappointed by the list of films to be released were quite possibly comic book readers. The lists of “Best of 2014” comics and graphic novels is littered with indie selections as well as some of the most popular off-shoots (notice these are neither sequels nor serials) of DC/Marvel books. Please click through the “Best of 2014” links below:

Comics Alliance: http://comicsalliance.com/best-comic-books-2014-list/

Bleeding Cool: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/01/05/22-best-comics-22-best-comics-2014-lists/

A.V. Club: http://www.avclub.com/article/best-comics-2014-ongoing-and-special-series-212601

Paste: http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/12/the-25-best-comics-of-2014.html

What Culture: http://whatculture.com/comics/10-best-comics-of-2014.php/9

IGN: http://www.ign.com/lists/best-of-comics

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-graphic-novels-comics-2014

Wired: http://www.wired.com/2015/01/best-comics-2014/#slide-id-1689691

  You will notice that DC and Marvel are making some appearances for their more feminist books, as well as their return to origin stories for secondary characters that are rarely explored in their “big 2” franchises. I could not help but notice this. Harris calls the latest franchise frenzy a death in cinema of sorts. He sees it as a lack of originality that could not be more of a stain in the future of film. That said, looking at the comic lists above, it would appear that fans are steering away from that. They honor what’s new and exciting the same way that moviegoers are honoring familiarity and non-challenging entertainment. What does this mean? The medium is becoming more original as the result of a companion medium being more watered down and, can we even say this, too accessible to audiences.

I’ve felt, for some time, that film super heroes are completely different than comic heroes. That assertion could be further supported by the movie industry’s recent legitimization of comic book heroes as film heroes. But, as the comic book heroes we see on the big screen become more popular, they also become more simplistic and associated with the celebrity that plays him or her, rather than his or her character. Have comic book heroes become film heroes? Perhaps that explains the comic fans’ departure from the movie seat to the reader seat – for something completely new and/or familiar to the comic book world, rather than the film world.

Comic book fans are known for being fickle, but these departures from comic truth (layered character development) as well as backstory have created a beautiful new forum for the up-and-coming comics with new characters as well as secondary characters that are arriving with their own narratives. The cons are becoming more focused on merch and mainstreaming, but that has led to smaller cons popping up all around the U.S. and even additional cons with off-shoot media interests like online comics as well as short film comics. As usual, mainstreaming has led us to a new place: disenchantment with what was once cool (but has now become the norm) and the desperate necessity to create something new.

If necessity is indeed the mother of invention, then the lack of movie industry originality has bred a brand new generation of comic book fan. Now that comics can be purchased via online media and read on their electronic devices, lack of newness in movies has created a hunger for newness in comics. Not that we will never love our original heroes, but we aren’t going to abandon the thing that made us excited about our heroes in the first place. That thing may have grown with installments of the comic, but the franchise model for movies does not carry the same weight.

We’ve all scanned Rotten Tomatoes to see what’s the latest certified “fresh” so that we can see something that will blow our minds. We’ve all noticed that the comic book film franchise has beefed up technology, merchandise and even cast hotter and more popular celebrities in leading roles. Is this fresh? No, it isn’t. It’s Hollywood, old and new. It’s what we’ve been searching for – legitimization – with the saddest price tag of all – predictability. Comic books, my friends, have become gentrified. So, we’re all seeking out a new Brooklyn to inhabit… just until they build the next high rise. Then, we’ll search again. 

[boomtubecomics]

I Offered You Peace, And You Ran Me Over With Your Car: Transformers vs. G.I. Joe is Super Rad

By Steven Miller

If you have trouble reading this, it’s because I don’t have eyeballs anymore; my entire face has been melted off by the awesomeness that is IDW’s Transformers vs. G.I. Joe. It was an innocent, but costly mistake; I had heard about the latest incarnation of the franchise, and popped into a local comic shop to grab the first few issues. Upon opening the first book, my face exploded, much like Generation X mutant Jono Starsmore. It was my Ark of the Covenant, minus the Nazis.

But today, I’ve learned to live with my Phantom of the Opera-esque face and I am here to tell you why Transformers vs. G.I. Joe is the coolest book of 2014 that you probably aren’t reading. And that’s a shame. Because someday, we’ll all be face-melted creatures stirring in the brush of a dystopian hellscape, so why not embrace it and be a trend-setter?

I’ll admit my knowledge of both franchises is relatively limited. I grew up in the age of Beast Wars and the perplexing Beast Machines, so I knew a lot of the main players (though I wasn’t quite clear on why they were aliens living on an alien planet, living as cross-era Earth fauna, but it made good TV.) Of course we all sobbed uncontrollably and learned a lot of lessons about life via the Transformers animated film.

The Joes always been a bit more nebulous. I don’t really remember the cartoon being on any stations we got, and I never had any of the toys. My cousin had totes and totes full of carded Joe figures that I always used to jealously look at. My mom got me one of the classic 12” style dolls, because I guess maybe she was trying to make dolls happen in my life for some reasons (moms always know). I remember being confused and delighted by the continuity of Sgt. Slaughter existing as a fictional character in Joe and a living man in the real-world fiction of the World Wrestling Federation. More confusing is that he existed in the same action figure world as a figure of a very real Buzz Aldrin and “The Fridge” Perry. Slaughter also appeared in the live-action/animated Super Mario Brothers show, and I don’t even want to know what that means about the tenuous space-time continuum. The boundaries have been blurred. We clearly live in a world of wonders.

Before anything else, I need to take a few minutes to gush about the artwork, because it was really the big selling point for me. So, just go ahead and take a look at this. I’ll give you a moment before we discuss.

Yeah.

I know, right?

It’s obvious that there are some major Silver Age influences at work here. John Barber not only co-wrote the book with Tom Scioli, but he also drew, inked, and colored it. The inks read a lot of Jack Kirby, giving the lines a life of their own. The dots and “Kirby Krackle” add a lot of kinetic energy to the book, which is essential for something with such action-oriented characters. The faces and physiques are distorted in a way that reminds me a lot of Steve Ditko. These styles make you feel like you’re reading a vintage comic book, you’re pulled into this childhood world of an eccentric covert military group who fight alien robots that turn into cars.

The physicality of the characters doesn’t make them feel like humans, they feel like action figures come to life. The colors are vivid, and Barber has a way of using them to set a particular mood (such as the red tone of the P.I.T.). It feels like an awesome indie comic you stumble onto and feel great when you discover you were the first to hear about it. It feels old and referential, yet it also feels new. There are surprises on every page, new things I haven’t seen in a comic before.

Scioli and Barber don’t shy away from using every character available in the catalog for backgrounds. Furthering the action are these moments where gunfire and other details obscure the speech bubbles, giving you the idea that the characters are really interacting in a 3D environment. There’s a lot happening, but it’s done masterfully.

I mean, look at this splash page:

The G.I. Joe mission is relatively simple, but I think the sometimes inaccessible part is the fact that G.I. Joe has more characters than a Legion of Super-Heroes book. It’s nuts. That’s one of the things I loved about this book. Tom Scioli and John Barber know that we need some Cliff’s Notes to get this stuff; they give us file cards for each character as they’re introduced. Because clearly, any self-respecting person is familiar with Shipwreck, but General Iron-Butt Austin? Maybe not. The book has a lot to accomplish with an unreasonable number of characters, but it’s relatively successful in balancing them.

It’s also extremely quotable.

“I offered you peace, and you ran me over with your car.” - Ravage

It would be easy to turn this book into a cliché. How many times have we seen the military fight aliens or robots or creatures on Earth? Instead Scioli and Barber decide to take things a step further and take the Joes to Cybertron. It’s brilliant. The Joes’ first act is to introduce foreign biological life to the planet. This is why we can’t have nice things. The humans are pushed off-kilter, trying to understand this terrain so different than their own, trying to figure out the politics and factions of this unknown place.

It’s probably not a spoiler to tell you that the Joes do align with the Autobots and Cobra aligns with the Decepticons, but the ride getting there is a lot of fun. If I had any criticism, it would be that the Transformers don’t feel present to me yet. I’m sure the book is building there, and that they’re trying to get their pieces on the board, but the ratio of Joe to robot is very skewed. The Transformers all have their own distinct personalities, and now that they’ve landed on Cybertron, I’m hoping we can see more of it.

Each issue is capped off with an annotation by the creative team to dive a little deeper into the comic we just read. It’s a fun way to understand their references, catch certain nods, and see panels in a new light.

Whether you’re a fan of the respective franchises or not, this book is exciting. It doesn’t look like anything else on the shelves right now, and it sometimes feels like a fever dream. Since the comic is only 4 issues in (5 if you count the Free Comic Book Day zero issue…which is referenced so much you should probably get it if you buy the rest), it’s a great time to hop on board. The trade of these issues will also be released in January. You can pick it up on pre-order over at Amazon with the money you got from returning those crappy Christmas presents.

But for the sake of your sanity, order some safety goggles, as well.

I recommend these.

Image Credit: All images from IDW’s

Transformers vs. G.I. Joe

by Tom Scioli and John Barber

[boomtubecomics]

What am I going to do with a Master's degree in Media Studies? or The Challenges of Comic Adaptation

By Kira Kristine

One of my favorite topics, evidenced by my body of BoomTube work, is medium adaptation. I reference it a lot; what makes a good adaptation, what works and what doesn't work moving on-screen action to a panel, or vice-versa.

The time has come to address it fully, as the Media Studies thesis I'll never write because I dropped out of the Master's program three years ago. (What am I going to do with a Master's degree in Media Studies? In this economy? Write about comic books on the internet? I'm doing that now with only a Poli Sci B.A! Go to college, kids!)

Some things were just made for a certain medium that are disasters when adapted. Some works can move between with small tweaks, others with larger ones, and still others by gutting the source material and leaving only the framework behind.

I write a lot about comic book movies because it's interesting to me how a character or idea created in 1960 for a comic book's audience can be relevant and interesting to someone sitting in a movie theater in 2014, and how it can be changed to compliment the current status quo and yet keep its original theme. In the situation of superheroes, we're helped by the fact that this particular character has usually been updated constantly in the intervening time, and we have reams of characterization to assist the process.

For example, it's 2008, and even though it's an origin story, we're not really just adapting Tony Stark, the guy who fought Commies in 1964. We're also adapting a guy whose computer password is "Captain America;" a guy who performed surgery on his girlfriend to save her life with the same reactor that saved his. We're adapting Demon in a Bottle Tony Stark; we're adapting the Tony Stark who makes bad decisions with the Illuminati and shoots Hulks into space.

We have the bare bones plot in the first Iron Man film as in the first Iron Man comic; rich d-bag kidnapped and held for ransom by Bad Guys Du Jour, rich d-bag is actual genius, builds suit of armor, escapes, is no longer d-bag professionally, becomes superhero. A panel-by-panel remake of Iron Man's origin wouldn't be relatable to people who were born the year the Berlin Wall came down, so Vietnamese Communists are replaced with Afghan insurgents. Iron Man being a secret identity, played off as Tony Stark’s bodyguard stretches the realism, like his origin story; there's a thousand hackers out there who would figure it out, a thousand journalists who would follow Tony Stark's every move for the ceaseless news cycle. (Note: for further examples on how one must rely on a very stupid populace in the case of the famous-guy-cum-superhero archetype, see all films relating to Batman, The.)

This is a very specific example, and the updates to the character have more to do with the change in era vs. change in medium.

But what about taking a novel and turning it into sequential art, for what amounts to the identical audience? A Song of Ice and Fire's first book, A Game of Thrones, was adapted into a comic book that's almost a scene-by-scene rewrite. While the popular show's first season, also an adaptation of the first novel, was the most faithful to the source, it excised scenes and characters out of necessity, mostly for time and budget constraints. The comic book, however, cuts out more scenes and dialogue than characters, combining comics' inherent ability to show rather than tell ("telling" is one of author G.R.R. Martin's signatures; he never uses ten words to describe a meal or a dress when one thousand will do better) with the need for brevity in dialogue because lengthy speeches don't lend themselves well to word bubbles. There are relatively few works given this, the Media Triple Threat treatment, and it's fun (for me) to compare the ways in which a source is adapted.

One scene in particular stands out for the comparison. Following a tournament given in honor of Ned Stark, his daughter Sansa is escorted to her room by her fiance Joffrey's bodyguard, known as the Hound. He's just won the tournament, he's drunk, he's huge, he's a generally miserable person to be around. Sansa (who is the POV character for this chapter in the novel) is eleven years old and still very naive. She describes the Hound's size, how drunk and angry he is, how he tries as hard as possible to frighten her with the story of how he received his considerable burn scars as a child. And then, surprisingly, Sansa doesn't shy away but puts a hand on his burned face and consoles him.

It's effective imagery in the novel; the main point of the scene is to establish character for both of them. Comparing this to the corresponding scene in the graphic novel is easy because the only real differences are topical. Obviously we don't have Sansa's inner monologue or the accompanying prose, so we have to rely on the artist. They are more faithful to the book in terms of character ages than the show, so Sansa looks like she's eleven: tiny, young, and fragile in comparison to the Hound. Her feelings need to be expressed not in words in her head but in a picture of her face, that contorts not only in fear but also sympathy. We actually have more insight into the Hound's character in this medium because the novel's scene is set in an area with very little light, so Sansa has to struggle to see him. The comic's use of light and bright colors allows us to see his reaction to her.

This particular scene was basically cut from the show - the backstory of the Hound's scars delivered to Sansa not by him but by a third character, Littlefinger. This was a much less effective way to establish the character of either; Sansa and the Hound obviously interact more, later, but this scene was adapted more to push forward Littlefinger's characterization as he was going to be more immediately pertinent to the upcoming narrative than the Hound.

Such is the constraint of a TV show or film. Even a very tightly written, bare-bones comic book can have as many asides as they want within their printing budget. The primary driving force behind a comic book is usually the art, and you could have a whole book of nothing but art, no words. Hawkeye #13, by Matt Fraction and David Aja, known as the "Pizza Dog" issue, is a good contemporary example of this. Because it's from the point of view of Lucky the dog, there are very few recognizable words; he understands more sign language than English, and both languages are limited by words that pertain to him. Lucky does convey his thoughts, however, through pictograms that mostly represent smells. Kate Bishop smells different than Clint Barton, and Lucky has a different opinion on each of them. The comic itself is no longer or shorter than any other in the series, and it moves the overarching plotline along without a single complete sentence. It's also cute as hell. The whole thing would have been accomplished more efficiently with words, but efficiency can be boring. Pizza Dogs are fun.

That's comics though. You could make a Pizza Dog scene work on-screen, but it'd be wildly different. Often, scenes that seem to flow naturally in a film get cut for no reason; similarly, though more rarely, scenes that are useless remain for unknown reasons. Guardians of the Galaxy had a scene in which Ronan is speaking with Thanos from Ronan's spaceship, being reprimanded. Thanos then orders Ronan to come to him. The very next scene is Ronan being reprimanded by him in Thanos' intergalactic space throne room. The only point of the first scene was to show the audience that Ronan is obedient to Thanos, because in about half an hour we're supposed to be surprised that he'll betray Thanos and use the MacGuffin himself. This could have been achieved with dialogue in the throne room scene and the spaceship scene could have been excised completely.   

There are two distinct types of adaptation for my purposes here. The first is a direct adaptation - the example above of the Game of Thrones graphic novel. The film Captain America: The Winter Soldier was this as well. It is retelling a story; certain things might be different, but the plot and major characters remain largely the same. The second type is indirect, utilizing a world's settings, themes, objects to send characters (established or freshly created) into entirely new situations. Official fanfiction, if you will. This seems most prevalent in television and comics; the serial, individualized nature of both media compliment each other, while the immensely cheaper comics allow it to go in directions a television show, beholden to ratings and budgets, can't.

A great example of the second type is Star Trek, whose comic books from the last sixty years would fill warehouses. I love Star Trek with every fiber of my dorky little heart, but that warehouse of comics is often a mixed bag. Some of them are cheaply written tie-in comics, meant to be glorified advertisements for movies and shows. Others are bizarre, like, second-season-of-Voyager bizarre, and have no redeeming qualities to hold the strangeness together. But for the most part, they follow the same pattern the show does, and come off as formulaic at worst.

There's a thing Star Trek does, and they do it a lot, where they need to solve an engineering problem, and it needs to look legitimate and threatening. So they tell you in perfect made-up technical language what the issue is, and then how they're going to solve it. When you hear it, it sounds like nothing. You hear it and it makes sense because usually our brains fill in those largely fake words as "technobabble" and we happily watch them save the day. Sometimes another character helps us along by translating it with an easy-to-follow metaphor. ("Like putting too much air into a balloon!")

However, when you're reading a comic book and you see "if we can reverse the polarity of the polaron accelerator so it emits a negative pulse, it might overload the Romulans' plasma inducers!" your brain tries too hard to make sense of it, and can't. Even to a Star Trek fan familiar with the universe's technology, that sentence means basically nothing to you, and what your brain would hear and understand as "we're going to fiddle with our thing so we can shoot different stuff than usual at the Romulans so they won't be able to do the thing they're doing" instead comes off as a jumble of too many words floating above Geordi's head.

This was particularly difficult to wrap my brain around in the Star Trek: TNG / Doctor Who crossover comic book out of IDW from a few years ago. I've never read a Doctor Who comic book besides that one, but the show operates in a very similar pattern to Star Trek. There's a lot of technobabble, a lot of very fast dialogue full of strange words, and since comic books are an artistic media first and textual second, and this comic gets crowded and unpleasant to read, which is depressing because Star Trek! Doctor Who! Crossover! Comic book!

This particular comic also rigidly uses a traditional panel system. Most pages have six boxes, everything is in left-right-up-down chronological order. It is boring. I flipped through it for this article and I remembered how bored I was reading it for the first time, how by the end of it I was just buying new issues to have the complete set, not out of any real interest in the ending. Besides, season one of reboot-Doctor Who established that Star Trek exists in its universe as it does in ours; a fiction, and no regard was given to how the Who crew ended up in a different universe. Continuity, people. Come on.

Similarly, Sleepy Hollow, the show, is fast-paced and tightly packed. Nothing happens that feels useless, even if characters seem extraneous in the long run (Hawley) or thinly written (Katrina.) The average episode follows an hour-long genre pattern that establishes character (both recurring and one-off,) establishes threat (both the monster-of-the-week and the overarching threat of the demon Moloch) and pushes on to watch the two leads have a funtime moment, then unravel this week's mystery, then realize how to beat it, then do it. Conclude with another funtime, or relief moment. End.

The second season has been generally weaker than the first, but it's still an entertaining hour of television. I'd hoped the accompanying comic book would give us some background information on how their world works; do a little world-building, a little more character development for the secondary characters like Jennie and Katrina and Irving, but it has not done those things, after two issues. It's set up exactly like an episode of the show, to its detriment. The way the show jumps from one scene to another with no preamble works visually; our brains don't care about that missing time, but when you're reading it, it comes off rushed, like the writers have a contracted number of scenes to write and they can't be bothered to deviate from that, to slow down and develop a scene for a moment.

Action scenes, especially fights, are difficult to establish in comics, since you have to portray a single moment in time vs. the relatively simple task of filming the same thing. One of the best artists I've seen visually represent a fight is JH Williams III in his run on Batwoman. Utilizing a double page layout, he takes a single action by Kate and spreads it over several panels; an unorthodox design that looks more like a front cover, or a special edition poster rather than a page in the comic itself. This type of layout is becoming more popular; it was seen more recently in the aesthetically-similar Elektra, and it worked just as well in the aesthetically-dissimilar She-Hulk.

There's no art under the sun that can't be adapted to look slightly different, it's just a matter of molding it to fit the medium. It's very difficult to end this, because I framed it, as I mentioned in my introduction, as a thesis; a scholarly article. If this were a narrative story, perhaps a documentary, I might have more florid prose for you here, to ease you out of my thoughts and back into your own.

But that's not what the medium demands.

[boomtubecomics]

LIVING ESSEX COUNTY

By Steven Miller

Steven goes home for the holidays.

---

The Christmas holiday is quickly approaching, which, for many people, means traveling home to see family. On Tuesday I boarded a plane that took me from sunny Savannah, Georgia back home to my parents home near Flint, Michigan. I only see my family once a year and appreciate having time with them. As an only child, I know that they hate having me across the country, but as I’m sure you’ve surmised from the limited scope of media talking about Flint or Detroit (Thanks, Michael Moore), there are some financial and career limitations in the area. And so here we are, my week of time in the depressed Midwest. It’s an odd feeling, being away from a boyfriend, being out of a busy routine, spending a lot of time around people I feel disconnected to the rest of the year.

I don’t really remember when I stumbled on to Jeff Lemire’s Essex County Trilogy, but I do know that I felt something strong as I read it, connecting me back to my own life and time in the snowy Great Lakes region.  Now that I’m spending some time quietly in my bedroom as an ice storm looms in the distance, I’m reflecting more on those invisible dots that bind me to the individuals in Essex County, and that rural Ontario land in which Jeff Lemire grew up.

I didn’t grow up in Essex County, my childhood home is about three hours west of there…separated by Detroit and the sprawling spectre of the auto industry. My town isn’t nearly as remote as Lemire illustrates Essex to be, but my best friend’s yard did back up to a cornfield, which I was too afraid to get close to when playing hide and seek at night. The neighbor boys and I found a fort in the woods behind my house that we used to spend afternoons at.  I didn’t really like those boys very much, but when you are an only child, and there are only 3 kids within walking distance that are your age, you can’t be too choosy. I ended up spending a lot of time alone, running around in the yard pretending to be a Power Ranger while waiting for the bus.  As I read part one, Tales From The Farm, I found myself empathizing with Lester, running around in a cape pretending to fly and wandering around in the woods hoping for adventure. I understood those awkward dinners and truck rides with Lester’s uncle, silence saying nothing and everything at the same time. I was very close with my mother, but conversations and quality time with my father felt forced. I felt, and still feel, that I had to put a lot of leg work into coming up with things for us to talk about or shows we could watch quietly together. Neither party equipped to communicate in the ways families did on TV.  My relationship with my father has changed for the better since I came out, but it’s still not one of many spoken words. I know he loves me and I love him, but I don’t know that we’ll ever have as much in common as I’d like, though I did get him started on 30 Rock this week, which is a major win for all parties.

If anything, my relationship with my town, with my neighborhood, has become more strained. These old stomping grounds have become more alien and trapped in time. Last night, my parents and I went out for fish dinner at a wood paneled bar, with the table talk hovering around who’s died since I was home last year. “Did you know him? His son was around your age, you might have known him from school.”  I didn’t. But other people did and were shocked they hadn’t heard, as they regularly read the obituaries. I ate my walleye and drank my draft beer quietly, not sure what to say.

Coming home is a mixed bag, to be sure. There are a lot of things happening in the household that I wish I could change. Sometimes when I’m here I feel guilty. Maybe I should move back so I can help. If I don’t, who else will? Maybe I can make some difference. I think about my life in my other home, and it induces a sense of calm disconnection, but also anxiety. Life is happening without me there, and I miss it. But it’s stressful having to deal with it, so here I can avoid it. It’s a struggle. I think about Lou in part 2, Ghost Stories, reflecting on how his decisions affected the entire family, how moving away to the city changed everything. Walking around, he sees ghosts of what was and not what is.

But I don’t want to sound like it’s terrible being at home. I appreciate the moments I get to spend with my family as they get older, with more bad knees, more lapsed memories, more cousins having babies. There is a simplicity to living in a place like this that doesn’t always bustle with people, that becomes more silent with each snowfall. I’m grateful to have these people to share my life with, people that I can call family…many are not so lucky. I think for many of us, we just tend to see the negatives, to feel frustrated by the circumstances we can’t control, the expectations not met, the sense of having restricted freedom. There’s nowhere to go, there’s nothing to do. My mother lamented at dinner that there’s nothing to do in this town. I told her people can drink, and she told me that even that gets boring after a while. I agreed. I went for a short walk, the snow and ice crunching under my tennis shoes (someday I’ll get some decent boots). It’s subtle and beautiful and peaceful, but in the winter, that can feel oppressive. Seasonal affective disorder is evidence of this. Each year I come home longing for family ties, wanting to connect with cousins or resolving to spend more time with my parents and less time locked away in my bedroom until lured out like a cat with the promise of food. Rereading through the part 3, The Country Nurse, I think about regret, and hopes, and unspoken words, wishing that some ugly truths weren’t real. But they are. And that’s life. That’s Essex County.

[boomtubecomics]

Superheroes: They’re Just Like Us!

The Fantasy-Based Creation of Heroes With Which We Desperately Want to Relate

By Stephanie Hoos

I admit it, I’m late to the party. I watched the not so recent VlogBrothers post called “I Kind of Hate Batman” that went up on October 10th and had to resuscitate myself before responding. John Green, of Fault in Our Stars and Nerd Fighter fame, brought to light an argument that, quite frankly, most of us Batman fans are sick to death of hearing: why doesn’t he just use his money for philanthropic endeavors instead of vigilante justice and a really cool car? That’s so wasteful! And, on top of that, Batman has the choice to be wasteful and play out his fantasies of being a non-hero hero who doesn’t actually have any superpowers of any kind that just causes problems in Gotham with really stupid villains to fight.

Well, John, that’s also super reductive. Hank, John’s brother, posted a video response that I was grateful to watch. He countered that John’s frustrations were much more globally directed/systemic and our passionate pleas for people of earth that actually exist to take up arms against global issues like poverty are much more necessary than the ubiquity of political commentary and self-promotion and capitalistic intention. Well said.

Hank brings to light that Batman is just a smokescreen to John’s video that is really just an anti-celebration of individualism. Batman is actually a mirror of us wanting the world to be a better place (plus explosions!). Batman is just a simple manifestation of who we are. We are all Batman! Wow, someone who actually gets it: it’s actually so much more complex. We all wish he world were better and less horrendous. However, Gotham shows villains and evil that is simplified to counter justice that is, admittedly, oversimplified.

John asks us to wonder why Gotham is never improved by Batman’s antics? Why is Batman so bad at defending Gotham using his bat cave? Why do we celebrate vigilante isolationism when collaboration is the key to successful combat of crime and injustice in the world? Hank counters that by asking why we do the same thing. Batman’s complexity is that he’s angry and frustrated and sad (just like us), but that he’s broad in his representation of values in our culture. He’s a good looking guy who fights crime. These are powerful tropes of possibility while simultaneously being a, as Hank says, “[dangerous] default setting.” If maleness and whiteness are the majority simplification, then Batman is simplified complicatedness…

Now, my turn. We are all vigilantes? Of course, because we aren’t all societally sanctioned crime fighters (if and when we choose to fight injustice on the regular). However, Batman’s relatable-ness comes from his screw-ups. I think Batman is “average” in many of his attempts to save Gotham while being the ideal man. Wait, what? That’s the point! Batman, in the comics – not the movies, has a complex narrative that allows him to be as human as he is hero and as successful as he is screw up.

This is something we all have to grapple with when we watch celebrities from arm’s length. Anyone can be a Monday quarterback, and we continuously take on that point of critique when we look at someone we wish we were and ultimately criticize the way he or she uses fame, money, and/or power in ways that we totally wouldn’t. It’s as if our pride and jealousy turns to anger and cynicism the moment we realize we would have done it differently. We would have done it better. Anyone ever watch a game show and scream at the TV? Yes, I have, Stephanie. Well, did that make you feel any better? No, it did not, Stephanie. Precisely. Your hatred for another person’s perceived stupidity in the moment is your short-coming, not theirs. You took the opportunity to laugh at someone making a mistake you would never make? Come on. That person was surrounded by cameras and pressure and you got to sit on your couch in the living room pretending you would know what to do with that particularly gnarly brand of edible cactus! (Anyone else a Chopped fan…?)

I’m reminded of that page in magazines that shows celebrities without makeup, wearing sweatpants, and/or walking dogs home from evenings that were clearly walks of shame (I prefer the term “stride of pride,” but oh well…). We each grab these pages eagerly looking for cracks in the celebrity façade that is perceived success and say, “She’s fat! She’s actually ugly! She’s ____________ (fill in the blank)!” and not so secretly we claim that this person’s celebrity status is all a lie. And then we buy the magazine, furthering that individual’s station as a celebrity. We are jealous of them. We want to be like them, but we – more than anything – just want to drag them down to our level so our scrutiny doesn’t appear like sour grapes. Keep guzzling.

Do we really wish celebrities were more like us? If so, then why are we trash-talking them so easily? I pose this question to the VlogBrothers, realizing that it’s already been answered: if you wanted Batman to be more reasonable in his bank balance expenditures, then why would his status be that of comic-worthiness? And if he’s a comic book hero that displays human characteristics of screwing up every now and again, why can’t you appreciate that openness and vulnerability? It’s so hard to know and realize at times that a person’s elevated status in society is our own making just as much as our desire to relate to them as one of the world’s underlings. That’s why it’s fun to love and hate these heroes of the modern day. We love to know that we would do it better than they would while simultaneously knowing that’s completely preposterous.

I think we like when people we hero-worship become like us just as much as we hate it. Our jealousy is just as human as celebrity mistakes, and it’s those cracks that make the sculpture of hero that much more rewarding to spot. You love to fall in love with flaws, gentlemen. Batman, as you’ve already admitted, has more than just a few of them.

Thanks for your debate, Hank and John. I’ll see you next time.

[boomtubecomics]

Worst Episode Ever: How to Not be a Jerk

By Kira Kristine

I have strong feelings about comic books, like you can't infer that just from my name at the top of the article on this, a site devoted to comic books.

I have strong feelings about a lot of things, but I feel most comfortable expressing my comic book feelings. A lot of people feel similarly; comic books, like all media (especially that which engenders strong a fan base,) are subject to audience criticism, and it's a relatively easy genre to critique compared to other forms of literature.

In spite of the negative connotations of the word, "criticism" isn't necessarily bad, as anyone who has slogged through a Literature class knows well. However, I am here today to discuss, to defend negative criticism. 

And I'm not even talking about the laudable goal of social criticism, hated as it is by a subset of pop culture purveyors, most recently and loudly video game enthusiasts. To push popular media to do better, to dispense with negative stereotypes and a damaging status quo, is something that has occurred with varying degrees of success since forever. Someone probably looked at a brand-new Lascaux cave painting and said, "it's great, but there's so few women," before she went and made a Venus figurine for archaeologists to interpret as porn thousands of years later.

I'm talking about full-on, shallow-as-a-puddle dork anger at bad comic book movie adaptations, at new artistic and authorial directions in the books themselves. 

The impetus behind this article was news from the trenches of the new Fantastic Four reboot; that Dr. Doom (to whom I've written love letters before, because he's my super-villain boyfriend) has been "re-imagined" (I use quotes because I have trouble thinking there was much "imagination" to this decision) as an angry hacker, one who trawls the internet under the internet handle "Doom," a play on his new name Victor Domashev. One must assume he also has a prestigious blog, sir, and will tell you all about it. 

This is terrible. Terrible. Dr. Victor von Doom was imagined in the 1960s as a self-important megalomaniac who runs a country with an iron fist. He is ethnically Romani and orphaned after his mother sold her soul to Mephisto (so her son would have a superior intelligence). He worked his way up from poverty using magic and science to become the king of a country. Scarred by an accident, he PUT ON A METAL MASK WHILE IT WAS STILL HOT - BY CHOICE - because he so values the ability to control others' perceptions of him. He is not a cool, British hacker kid.

Dr. Doom is ridiculous. He is a product of the time he was first written, and this new origin story is counter to his character, based on the fact that the original is silly, something that doesn't fly well in the kind of gritty reboots Fox prides themselves on. 

The last three paragraphs are full-on dork criticism. Other than bringing up the fact that a white British guy is portraying a Romani character, (an ethnic group that is separate from what is considered white European, and has been historically subjugated and discriminated against) I'm only complaining about a crappy character re-write. 

Complaining is awesome. It's cathartic and refreshing to let loose your thoughts on something, even something benign. Some people don't like it because, unlike criticism, it's innately negative. This is a fine outlook to have. I myself have been working to be less negative in my life, less cynical, because it can be emotionally exhausting. 

But it's hard, especially when it comes to comic books, and double especially when it comes to the Big 2. Triple especially for Big Budget Adaptations of those Big 2. 

These are corporations who exist to make money, and art is secondary to that, which invites cynicism more than anything. Marrying complaints and serious literary criticism is something that comes naturally to a lot of people who consume pop media because it's easy, and the two naturally compliment each other. 

Here's some examples: 

The cast of the Amazing Spiderman 2 was flawless, but the writing was reheated garbage water. Everyone was on top of their game in that film except for anyone who touched the script.          

Rick Remender's writing on Captain America is as heavy-handed as it is boring. He made Steve Rogers a humorless, gritty anti-hero, fridged Sharon Carter, and created a sexy lady character who gets more powerful the fewer clothes she wears. I am 0% confident in his ability to write Sam Wilson.  

Avengers: Age of Ultron looks depressing and unnecessarily bleak, reminding me of the Dark Knight trilogy in the worst ways. 

See how easy that was? And it feels great to say it, too. It's important to distinguish that these are your own opinions and not facts, in spite of the time I began an article saying "everyone hated Marvel's Civil War." If you happened to enjoy the writing in Amazing Spiderman 2, you're not less of a fan and I don't think less of you as a person. 

And I think that's where some blowback against complaining comes from; if I hate a thing that you love, it's not exactly a leap of the imagination that I hate you as well. The media you love is so much a part of you that it's kind of like I insulted a family member. You just have to remember that, generally, someone speaking negatively about Your Favorite Thing is not a reflection on you, it's a reflection on themselves; this piece of media resonated in a different way than it did with you because of who they are as a person. 

Which is excellent and natural; art should not mean a single thing to all people. We all come to a work from a different perspective and it's important to lend that different perspective to that work's criticism. 

I, personally, don't hate you based solely on the things you love because that's silly and illogical. I'm sure you have plenty of character traits that can hate you for, more than your penchant for stuff I don't like.

Obviously there's another side to this, because you will and probably have run into people who do judge you based on the stuff you like. If you're the member of a marginalized group, especially, you'll be derided for what you're into no matter what, your tastes pigeonholed and judged and found wanting. 

Gate-keeping is part of the old and storied trashheap behind the house of nerd culture that we just can't seem to get rid of. Too many people have stories of being told that their opinion is invalid, that they have to like or dislike certain things, and in a certain way, in order to be a Legitimate Fan. Like the time I threw together a Fionna cosplay in time for a con, to have a vendor snidely ask whether I'd read ALL the Adventure Time comics, or if I'd ONLY seen the TV show. 

At the time, I just dropped the comics I'd been perusing and left his stupid booth, but here's my critical opinion; the cadence and pacing of Adventure Time is not suited to graphic novel form, and the comics I'd read suffered due to the medium. So no, I hadn't read all the comics, but that didn't mean I wasn't entitled (whatever that means) to wear a damn costume. 

There's another, weirder level to this criticism blowback. Social media has fans closer to creators than at any other time in history, combining the potential sensitivity of creators with the inevitable criticism of fandom. Creators on Twitter and Tumblr can search tags or mentions of their name or work, as well as peruse reblogs and retweets of their original content. This leads to some weird interactions that might turn abusive as hundreds of devoted fans rally against the offender. Obviously this is worse than just being called a shitlord by a nobody on Tumblr for reviewing a comic in a way that particular nobody doesn't like.  

  So yeah, I have strong feelings about comic books, and I'm going to share them because ugh, comic books. I have the right, nay, the responsibility to share my shitty opinions with the world. Following this logic, why would I deride someone else from expressing their comic book opinion? Yours is probably no more or less shitty than mine in the grand scheme of things. 

Opinions can be wrong if they're based in prejudice or are innately factually inaccurate, but otherwise, the more the merrier, as far as I'm concerned. If you're sharing those opinions on the internet you should probably be prepared for disagreement, but there's no reason it should be hostile, and there's no reason you should be hostile for receiving an opinion on your opinion. You're not even required to respond, or discuss! I.e: Don't make someone argue with you, because who cares!?

   For your edification, here is a short series of guidelines on how to Deal With the Having or the Seeing of Opinions in Public: 

Opine to your heart's content.

But don't be an asshole.

Bear in mind everyone else's opinion is equally as valid and terrible as your own.

Along the same line, realize very few people care about your opinion. it is probably not going to revolutionize popular critical thought on the subject at hand.

When you disagree with someone's opinion, think: Am I adding something to the conversation by saying so? Am I wording my thoughts the way I might speak with my grandmother, or the manager at a bank I'm loaning money from. Am I staying in my lane? Eg; if I'm Ethnicity X, is it a good idea to tell a person from Ethnicity Y their opinion on the treatment of Ethnicity Y in Comic Book A is wrong?

Go back and look at number 2 again.

If you a creator or someone with a metric ton of followers, think: Will publicly arguing with a person cause your followers to gang up on this person? Are your feelings just hurt by someone saying they don't like your stuff? Get over it; move on.

Ruminate on number 2. Really feel it in your bones. Live it. Know it to be true in all aspects of your life.

In conclusion, if this piece has any kind of conclusion at all, being a contrarian sometimes serves a purpose as long as you're not being a jerk along with it. 

Nerds complaining about nerd stuff is a time-honored tradition, and I don't intend to stop now.

Please, don't try to stop me. 

Image Credit: The Simpsons, Fox Broadcasting

[boomtubecomics]

Patsy Walker: Teen Idol, Satanist, and Superhero

By Steven Miller

I have a pretty deep fascination with minor characters who have bizarre backstories. A while back, I wrote about the strange case of Alicia Masters. For those of you not keeping score at home, she’s the blind girlfriend of Ben Grimm and also the daughter of one of the Fantastic Four’s villains. She got dumped by Thing and then married Thing’s best friend, only to be replaced by a Skrull and get hot and heavy with the sexy mannequin, Silver Surfer. It’s odd. But it’s possible that Patsy Walker has an even odder story.

On the weekends, I work at a used toy store where I spend the day sorting through old comics and pricing them. Often it ends up being 90s X-Force issues and Malibu garbage; however, sometimes you find some really cool stuff. I stumbled upon some old issues of Patsy Walker, and it’s spin-off Patsy and Hedy. I started thinking on the bizarre journey that her character had transitioning into a superhero. How did she get from point A to B? And so that’s what I’m going to talk to you about today.

It all starts with Miss America #2, which was originally supposed to be about the crime fighter Madeline Joyce. This Miss America was not related to Young Avengers member America Chavez or the ‘scholarship pageant’ representing the diverse fabric of our country. By issue #2 of the series, the newly introduced Patsy Walker delighted readers with her hijinks as one of the ‘it’ girls of her school and immediately pushed Miss America onto the backburner of her own book. Maybe it’s because Madeline Joyce was a big ol’ racist - at least if you believe X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl. A retcon indicated that hell-doomed racist Miss America was an imposter.  

Patsy, her boyfriend Buzz, and her frenemy Hedy appeared in several books in the pre-Marvel publisher Timely Comics. She even had the casual run-in with Millie the Model, another insanely popular romance comic printed by Timely. Actively trying to become a model and actress, the book transitioned from high school fun to the adventures of a young 60s working girl (more Mad Men and less Pretty Woman). She even marries and divorces Buzz. It’s very modern. She bounced around for nearly twenty years before being folded into the Marvel Universe in the mid-60s.

It turns out that Patsy’s mom was a comic book creator, and the Timely comics were written by Mrs. Walker! That’s some meta comic-within-a-comic stuff. Because of Mrs. Walker’s profession, Patsy had a deep love for the real superheroes in her world, especially that hunky Reed Richards (That hair! That flexibility! That big...brain!) It never worked out for Patsy and her crush on Reed (though you might argue that’s really for the best, am I right?), but she did attend Reed and Susan’s wedding - planting her squarely in the Marvel Universe.

She eventually befriends Beast and commits an act of terrorism on a government facility with the Avengers. You know, it's usually the paramilitary X-Men doing this kind of stuff. Maybe Beast is the common denominator.  Anyway, as a thank you, Beast gives Patsy one of Tigra’s old costumes and Patsy becomes the superheroine, Hellcat! Yay, Hellcat! The costume gives Patsy the power of placebo, and she thinks it enhances her abilities, but apparently Patsy is just a natural gymnast (some people have all the luck.).

Compounding her natural abilities, she travels to Titan and trains with Moondragon (Space Beyonce) to enhance her combat and psionic abilities. Why? Because why not, really. Every supporting character needs an adventure in space. I mean, try and keep Rick Jones OUT of outer space.

Hellcat comes back to Earth and pals around with the Defenders, who is a team that exists because the members really had nothing better to do. While on the roster, she meets the man of her dreams, the red hot Daimon Hellstrom! Yes, that Daimon Hellstrom; you know, the son of Satan? I mean, who wouldn’t be in love with him? Just look at those flaming locks!

They all Defend together for a bit, get married, and become occult investigators like Lorraine and Ed Warren. Man, did y’all see The Conjuring? Vera Farmiga was on point in those collared dresses and Patrick Wilson...woof.

But of course, you should expect trouble in paradise when you’re married to the son of Satan. Daimon turns kind of evil again, and it causes Patsy to have a breakdown.

Ladies and gentlemen, Patsy was Britney before Britney was Britney. Only Patsy didn’t accost someone with an umbrella, she just went catatonic.

And then she is the subject of an assisted suicide.

Look, i’m not going to get into a whole medical ethics/right to life conversation here, but you’ve got to admit this is kind of an odd storyline. The idea is controversial now, let alone 1994.

And then Hellcat stays dead forever, just like her pal Mockingbird.

Wait, no, that’s not what happens at all. The pair team up in Mephisto’s realm, and eventually get resurrected to fight the Avengers, but that gets foiled pretty quickly. Mockingbird goes back to being dead for a while until Secret Invasion, but Patsy stays uncorpsed. She is pretty understandably depressed about the whole being dead for five years thing.

Some other 'H-E-Double Hockey Sticks' stuff happened, and then she reformed Marvel’s favorite roving gang, the Defenders. She also appears in the pages of Marvel Divas, which was actually a lot better than it sounds. It was described as Sex and the City in the Marvel Universe, which actually sounds like an incredible premise, though it ended up being more about Firestar’s cancer. Still a good storyline, but not SATC good. But still definitely better than that title would suggest.

These days, Hellcat has found a home in the pages of She-Hulk, as an investigator for Jennifer’s firm. As someone who has made a few more questionable decisions than Jennifer, she’s a great companion for the story. Unfortunately She-Hulk will be concluding in January, leaving Patsy’s fate in limbo. However, one thing that strikes me with Hellcat is her endurance, both as a character and as a licensed property (she’s only 2 years younger than Captain America). She’s reinvented herself, she’s died, she’s been bald, and she’s a survivor.

Her day was probably worse than yours.

Patsy Walker is an inspiration for all of us.

[boomtubecomics]

GWEN STACY AND THE SHACKLES OF BEING A ROMANTIC INTEREST

By Defne S.

Editor's note: This week, we're excited to present to you a guest article from Defne S., coming to us all the way from Istanbul, Turkey! You can find her at her Tumblr (@Sirdef) and hopefully here with more articles in the future! 

--

You don’t need to take a women’s studies class to know the words “Romantic Interest”- but generally you need to have an understanding of gender dynamics surrounding Romantic Interests, the disparity between the number of male romantic interests vs. female (and the respective portrayals), and the tropes revolving around the romantic interest to really understand why it’s a negative term.

And it is a negative term when it comes to women. A romantic interest is by default a part of the protagonist’s story- even being a part of the plot of the movie isn’t a requirement. Most often the protagonist is male, and most media is heteronormative- which means that the protagonist will be a straight male and the love interest a woman. Usually, a female romantic interest is someone just there for the male protagonist to protect or save, and quite often “win” at the end of the story.

The problem with the romantic interest is that the story is usually about getting them, winning them, ending up with them, but never actually about them. I’m not questioning how much the story revolves around the love interest- It is, after all, the protagonist’s story- I’m talking about how the romantic interest can feature heavily in the film, always there to motivate the hero, yet we actually never learn anything about them that doesn’t revolve around the male character’s interests. Most of the women who are in the love interest role don’t have anything about their character explored beyond their relationship with the male protagonist. They are like a moon orbiting a planet, almost everything about their character is tied to the male protagonist.

Even "women-who-get-weapons-and-get-even", the snarky, cunning 100% cast iron stereotype of the Strong Independent Female Character are not free of the limitations of being the love interest. Just because they have a gun doesn’t mean they’re a three-dimensional character. You can give a woman a gun and a kick-ass attitude, but unless you give her her own origins, perspective, and voice, she is wasted potential and limited by the man she orbits.

And then there is Gwen Stacy. We know about her as much as we know about Peter Parker- we know her family, we know her tragic origins, we know she likes Thai food and chocolate and has a dog. She’s first in her class and she has allergies. Gwen Stacy is as well-defined a character as Peter, despite being the love interest.

The first time we see Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man, it’s five minutes in. We see her through the lens of Peter Parker’s camera, completely immersed in her book while sitting alone. This one shot tells a lot about her- intelligent, at the very least studious. This is presumably their lunch break, so instead of eating or hanging out with friends, or paying attention to the commotion happening around her, she’s reading.

The next time we see her, it’s a minute later. Peter just confronted the school bully, who was humiliating another kid. The bully punches and then kicks Peter, and he is on the ground. Flash thumps his chest and turns around for round two, only to be confronted with the knight in shining headband- Gwen Stacy. She talks down to him, reminding him of their after-school tutoring session, and shuts him down immediately. Gwen Stacy knows you don’t bring a knife to a gunfight. Gwen Stacy unloads the gun and puts it back in the holster for you, while reminding you that your homework was very disappointing.

That wasn’t particularly brave of Gwen. It was smart, and it compassionate. But she knows Flash- she knows that Flash wouldn’t fight her because she got between him and a human punchingbag. She wasn’t taking a significant risk in doing this, she wasn’t doing it with the knowledge that Flash would bully her, too.

The difference between Peter and the bystanders shouting “eat it” is that Peter had the power to at least divert Flash’s attention, and he did that. With power comes responsibility- Peter had the power to help someone, so Peter did. Gwen had the power to help Peter, so she did. She didn’t do it because she wanted to be brave, she did it because she had the power to and that’s what heroes do. It was the right thing to do, so she did it.

When Peter showed up to school with a bruise on his eye and no idea what day it was, she invited him to her house for dinner. It was out of worry and compassion because Gwen Stacy is so full of compassion that she saves others with it. And think about it, if she hadn’t invited him to her house, he wouldn’t have talked to her dad about vengeance and actual heroism. Peter would have eventually found the man with the star tattoo and maybe killed him, which would send him down a dark path. Gwen Stacy intervened and held out a helping hand, and Peter took it.

When Peter reveals who he is, Gwen says “You’re Spider-Man!”. Not “you’re the masked vigilante”, not “you’re the guy who caught the car thief”. If you take that and put together her discomfort when Peter brought it up at the dinner table, it’s kind of easy to figure out that Gwen must have had the same argument with her dad over and over: because she thinks Spider-Man is a hero too.           

She didn’t have to be brave to help Peter, but Gwen showed as much bravery as Peter over the course of the two movies. Gwen risks her life again and again, from hitting the Lizard with a school trophy to synthesizing the antidote and clearing the building, to cutting herself free of the webs, commandeering a police vehicle, slamming right into Electro and telling Peter off about how her choice to help Peter is her choice. Period. She charges headfirst into action and saves lives. She may not swing from building to building, but Gwen is a hero.

In fact, Gwen Stacy is the hero. Gwen is bursting with heroism, with bravery and wit, with cleverness and compassion. Gwen Stacy is the hero- like Peter is the hero- except she just wasn’t bitten by a spider.

Yet for all Gwen’s heroism and bravery, she died at the end of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Why? Because with all her exceptional qualities, achievements, and strength of character, Gwen Stacy was still shackled to her fate by being the romantic interest. Even though Gwen is a hero, she’s still also the love interest, which means her fate can only go so many ways, and none of them involve her own happy ending. They involve her death for the emotional development of Peter Parker.

It’s time to take the shackles off. It’s time to stop chaining female characters to their fate like a silent movie with the heroine tied to the train tracks with death quickly approaching. Gwen Stacy had and has potential beyond being Peter’s doomed love interest, and as the popularity of Spider-Gwen shows, she could be her own hero and even have her own book.

So let’s stop doing this. Let’s not kill off female characters for the manpain. I want to stop wincing in anticipation of the eventual death of a female love interest just because they make out with the protagonist. It’s getting old now.

Seriously.

Stop.

[boomtubecomics]

ASSEMBLE by Janet Van Dyne

By Steven Miller

Despite all of the Marvel film announcements of late, the Wasp's existence in that universe is still pretty unknown. So basically, I think we should make sure we don't forget about her as much as possible. I DO always sort of forget that Janet is a fashion designer, and most probably designed all of the Avengers costumes (some of which are really quite terrible). But you know, I think that's an avenue worth exploring a bit.

So I wondered...what might Janet's collection look like? well folks, here's a bunch of Polyvore collages to prove that my taste is maybe pretty questionable in terms of women's clothing. Anyway, here we go...

Red, white, and ooh, girl! Take a ride on hunky Steve Rogers' bike in style. This vintage-inspired dress and motorcycle jacket is sure to make anyone proud to be an American!

Look out-of-this-world in one of our favorite jackets of the season inspired by that planetary powerhouse, Captain Marvel! You might not have powers from exploding alien technology, but you'll sure feel like you do!

A perfect look for you femme fatales out there. Back off, boys. A chic outfit for the club or espionage! Beautiful and dangerous.

Jet-set in style with this look inspired by Tony Stark! Look like a million bucks and be ready for a business lunch, and drinks after.

Bring the thunder in this fabulous evening look! You might not inspire any myths, but they'll certainly be talking about how great you look, tomorrow! Make those men or women prove they're worthy of your attention!

Court is in session...get ready to crush it! Find your inner strength and make your enemies green with envy with this sassy ensemble inspired by our very own She-Hulk!

Ready, aim, fire! Be your own cupid in this Hawkeye inspired look. 

Conquer the urban jungle with our jumper and claw rings inspired by Princess Shuri of Wakanda. Perfect for a night on the prowl.

[boomtubecomics]

HONG KONG TOY SHOPPING

By Steven Miller

I'm finally back in the States after a month working in Hong Kong. There was a lot I loved about HK, but I’m definitely glad to be home. I was having one of those days the other week where I was feeling officially over everything and generally having a really frustrating time. I was looking for the stationary store, and managed to get lost.  I was only a few blocks from my office. I was ready to give up, when I turned down a street and discovered line of toyshops. I made a note and found my way back to work. That evening during my walk home, I decided to check out these stores and see what I could find. And folks, it was awesome.

In my search, I found toys that fit into a few categories:

Legitimately good value for the money

Slightly off-model bootlegs

Leftovers

...what?

I now present my findings. I hope you enjoy.

Legitimately good value for the money

There were a lot of cool toys to be found in these places, especially those fancy statuettes and Hot Toys/Bishouju/sexy anime unarticulated figures, but I was looking for something exciting and cheap. There were many contenders, but I settled on this set of Sailor Moon figures, because...well obviously.

Upon opening the box, I was nervous that I wouldn't get the full set since all of the boxes looked the same. I thought this was maybe one of those mystery figure scenarios where I'll end up getting 6 Jupiter figures.  But alas, I was able to get the whole set, and they're painfully cute.  Especially the little Luna and Artemis figures. The set cost me about $115 HKD (a little less that $15 USD).

Slightly Off Model Bootlegs

I found a lot of these that were either legitimate toys repackaged as off-brand, or just things that were so close to the originals, but not quite.

I'm relatively sure that "Sweet Fashion" was the original working title for Frozen.

I ended up settling on some sets of superhero Lego Minifigures.

There are a few things interesting about these sets. First of all, they aren't Legos, they are IQ Blocks and Decool Blocks.  Second, what are these collections, even? The first set is mostly DC, except Loki and Black Widow. Also, Faora? Really?  Guard is my favorite DC hero, though.  In the 2nd set, it's curious there is ONE DC character in this Super Heroes set, and it's Joker. This isn't randomly collected...you can see from the box that they were meant to be packaged this way.

I also appreciate the appropriation of the Avengers logo.

Some of the characters are labeled correctly, but some are going by aliases. Note "Diana" instead of Wonder Woman and "Quinzel" instead of Harley Quinn.  My favorite (picture above) is Harvey Kent, Two Faces (instead of Harvey Dent, Two Face).

Inspecting the figures, you can see they're pretty similar to the legitimate ones, but a little bit different.

My version has red arms and no lasso. Also her skin is a little pinker. But all in all, pretty good. Each boxed set was about $60 HKD (about $7.75 USD).

Leftovers

The next category was one that I thought was really fascinating; the leftovers. These are figures that were probably in US stores, but never sold and got clearanced out, and finally made their way into the Asian market.  For whatever reason, these were bagged as a group.

I'll have one bag of Spider-Mans, please. For just $20 USD, you too can own a bag of Spider-Mans, perfect for your Clone Saga dioramas.

I'm not sure if those middle ones were legitimate or they are repaints, but I am living for Sea Foam Iron Man.

I'm not sure what happened to Black Widow's face, but she looks really sad about it. So does Nick.

I'm not sure why this Avengers set has a random Batman in it, but I guess a better question would be why WOULDN'T they throw in a Batman? Batman is awesome. If I were the Avengers, I know I would want Batman.

Polio Superman.

This "Top Secret" Iron Patriot figure came packaged with an American Flag. Truly proud to be an American.

...What?

There were a few really strange things, but there's only one really worth mentioning, and it's this Superman figure that I bought. I can only hope this is an advance of the New 52 version of "Death of Superman."

So there you have it. My shopping adventure into a couple of Hong Kong toy shops.  What's the weirdest toy you've found while abroad? Let us know in the comments.

[boomtubecomics]

NIMONA!

By Kira Kristine 

The following is a review of Noelle Stevenson's Nimona, so it contains spoilers, so go read it now if you haven't read it and you care about that kind of thing. In fact, go read it anyway. Go read it again. It'll only take you like two hours, and that's if you have a bad internet connection.} 

Noelle Stevenson, known on the internet as gingerhaze, is an epitomization of Tumblr popularity, where nerd culture meets social consciousness meets fandom obsessiveness in an adorable, colorful package, without all the extraneous weirdness. Stevenson was reblogged into fame with sketches of Lord of the Rings characters done-up modern as hipsters and bros; a fun, silly AU that she continues with any other fandoms that strike her fancy. Since then, her rise has been meteoric; she's got writing and artist credits on comic books like Lumberjanes, various Adventure Time titles, and the upcoming Sleepy Hollow tie-in comic. Additionally, she writes for Disney's Wander Over Yonder. Stevenson is talented, is what I'm saying, and people have noticed.

  Her own webcomic series featuring original characters, Nimona, has just come to an end. Nimona has been going on for the better part of two years, though it's only covered a single story arc. Re-reading now from the beginning is like a time capsule; you can see how far Stevenson's come in terms of skill in such a short time following her swift climb from the internet to "real-world" success.

  That's not to say that her work is amateurish; far from it. Her art style has, reasonably but somewhat unfairly, been compared to fellow webcomic artist Kate Beaton. Stevenson's work is much more a showcase of movement, more like a screenshot of a cartoon than a standard comic strip. Nimona's SciFi-Fantasy setting gives her room to play with this; characters swoop around in cloaks, cross and uncross their spindly legs, transform into noodle-like animals. Everything keeps moving in Nimona.

  While Stevenson's singular sketch posts on Tumblr often lack color and detail due to obvious time constraints, Nimona goes the opposite route with vibrant, lush character and background designs that often feature large empty spaces, but that aren't so much minimalist as meticulously utilitarian - everything that needs to be there is, in force.

  The storyline itself is deceptively simple; the protagonist, the "evil" ex-knight Ballister Blackheart, is locked in perpetual battle against his former boyfriend, the knight Ambrosius Goldenloin, (they pick their own names) the golden-boy of the obviously sinister, all-controlling corporate/government entity The Institute. This status quo is just fine by everyone until mysterious, adorable Nimona plops into Ballister's life, revealing herself to be an immensely powerful shape-shifter and demanding to be his apprentice. He accepts, of course, and the two bumble and plot in turns down a path that leads to a final showdown with The Institute. 

   Honestly, you've read iterations of this story before. It's not a complicated plot; there are relatively few characters and everything's very linear. But it combines all the things Stevenson's target audience loves out of their fiction empaneled neatly. Emotion! Drama! Fighting! Explosions! Silliness! Hugs! Lady scientists! Boyfriends getting back together in a ridiculously angsty way! Teenage girl heroines literally struggling with themselves! Ostensible villains giving each other Christmas presents that get call-backs perfectly timed to hit you right in the feels! 

  There's a somber tone to Nimona, overlaying the often silly insides. It reminds me of the current Ms. Marvel run in a lot of ways; the fun and the serious working hand in hand to deliver a thoroughly enjoyable experience. It features openly gay characters, one of whom has a visible disability, and well-written female characters. I don't know how involved Stevenson was in Tumblr before her Broship drawings blew up, but her work has definitely been shaped by Tumblr's often-stereotyped aesthetic of quality representation.

  In spite of the poignancy of the climax, Nimona ends on a hopeful, if somewhat abrupt note, but if everything becomes too much for you, just remember that Stevenson, knowing her audience and her roots, concocted a wonderful "Everything's Fine!" AU for the series, where Ambrosius and Ballister are in a nice, healthy relationship, and they adopt Nimona, and everything is indeed fine.

[boomtubecomics]

GOTHAM BY GASLIGHT

By Steven Miller 

Recently I came across an issue of Gotham By Gaslight, an Elseworlds DC comic that imagined what Batman might look like in the late 1800s.  I might not have paid too much attention to it, except that it was penciled by Mike Mignola, maybe best known for creating Hellboy.  And because Mignola is a master, I decided to take a look. As a note, there may be some spoilers for this twenty-year old story, so, you know, you’ve been warned. 

We open with Bruce Wayne heading home to Gotham City after time abroad. We’ve found out that his parents died in a very similar manner to the norm. Before he boards for America, he runs into an old family friend, Jacob Packer. In case it wasn’t immediately obvious by this trusted person invented for the story, you know he's going to play some role later.  Since Elseworlds is a one-off story, we should consider just about anyone except Bruce, Alfred, and Gordon to be disposable, especially one who has a big fanfare at the start of the story. 

We see Batman’s rise in Gotham, turning the tide of crime, and the socialites who question his existence and hero status. It's pretty standard Batman origin for the first half. In a twist, it appears that Jack the Ripper has moved from London to Gotham at the same time as Bruce and Uncle Jacob…what a coincidence! Evidence is found in Bruce’s home and he is convicted of being the Ripper. And that’s the end of the story.

Only Bruce discovers that Uncle Jacob was a doctor in the military, and the world’s greatest detective discovers that readers had probably figured out pages ago, that it was Uncle Jacob doing the killings! Alfred breaks Bruce out of jail and takes down Uncle Jacob, who was apparently just obsessed with Martha Wayne.

  I’ll be honest, the plot could have used some work. I think someone thought that facing Bruce against Jack the Ripper would be instantly compelling, except that the Ripper wasn’t much more than a footnote for most of the story. We don’t have time to know or care who Uncle Jacob is, so the reveal feels contrived and formulaic.  Elseworlds had a habit of relying on simple changes to put a story into print. “What if Batman was Steampunk?” “Hey, what if Superman lived in Feudal Japan?”  They’re all kind of cute, but end up being the same story you’ve already read, just with a different dressing. To be fair, Gaslight is considered to be the first Elseworlds story, so it's not following a formula, but is maybe responsible in part for creating one.

There were no real surprises in this story, no new information to make us understand Bruce’s motivations.  It’s rare to see a version of Batman’s origin story involving villains in the way this story did. Bruce’s origin takes some time to explain, to evolve. There’s no room to cover that, while also introducing us to new characters and have him appropriately battle a villain as large as Jack the Ripper. It’s too rushed and much too forced. It tries to go too many places at once.

The real star of Gotham by Gaslight is Mike Mignola’s pencils. His version of Gotham City is the most convincing piece of the story. It’s actually quite difficult to imagine Gotham without the art deco influences that are so common in its rendering, but you can feel evil at the edges of the panel, and it’s clear we’re in Gotham, just not the Gotham we know yet. Batman’s redesign is strong; it feels timely, but not gimmicky. It seems mostly appropriate for the time period it’s been set in. The inking is strong and the coloring is murky (which is appropriate for this time period because Gotham was legitimately dark and dirty), but sometimes it might be a little too dark.

Overall, it’s a beautiful, and decidedly harmless book, but doesn't add anything new to the table. It’s clear why Mike Mignola has become such a superstar, but I wish we had more time with the characters to develop a true adversarial relationship between the greatest detective and one of the most famous unsolved serial killings. This story might have worked better for an arc, rather than a one shot, so maybe some of the world building could have paid off.

[boomtubecomics]

TO LAND IN THE UNCANNY VALLEY

By Stephen T.

From my limited research, the uncanny valley is a term used to identify the sensation of revulsion that happens when we as humans see a representation of another human that is too close to real.  When this happens, the brain is sent conflicting signals of “person” and “not person” at the same time, creating this effect of confusion and discomfort.  In comics, the use of either stylized or hyper-realistic illustration is common, but most artists stay clear of this danger zone.

Today we will explore some illustrators who dare to stand at the edge of this valley and laugh at (or fall into) the abyss.

Greg Land is an American illustrator employed by Marvel and DC comics.  He has worked on many comic books since his introduction in the late 1990’s.  He has come under some scrutiny for his illustration techniques, mainly taking photographs or other illustrations and tracing them to create new work.  Appropriation, at its heart, is an art-making technique that many illustrators, artists, and designers have used to their benefit and to the aesthetic enjoyment of their viewers.  Land, however, seems to hit that sweet-spot just before “zombie movie” and right after The Polar Express with his work.  Looking at illustrations by Land send my brain down into the uncanny valley, making it hard to interpret the actual writing or story progress in specific books he is illustrating.  My eye immediately is distracted by the faces, sending disorienting messages of “person/not person” from the page.

Uncanny X-Men #501 by Ed Brubaker and Greg Land

In the image above, it’s easy to tell what is happening.  The X-Men character “Pixie” is involved in some kind of fight, and is being attacked with a baseball bat, or other blunt object.  Her hair is fluttering around her, and action lines in the background indicate that she and the blunt object are about to collide.  However, look at her face.  It almost looks like she is smiling.  We can clearly see her teeth, and stretched lips as though she is shouting in pain, but this is conflicting with the shape of her eyebrows and eyelids which are lifted upward in a peaceful and almost friendly way.  In my first reading of this image, I didn’t know whether to feel nervous for this character’s imminent death, or feel a sense of calm from the relaxed and peaceful nature of the face.  In a hierarchy of symbols, a neurotypical brain will respond to the human face first, and decode that information before looking at the surrounding symbols and decoding those.

Uncanny X-men #501 by Ed Brubaker and Greg Land

Zooming in to the cover of Uncanny #501, we see similar conflicting backgrounds and facial features.  The realistic face of “Pixie” in this image shows her having multiple facial wounds and other trauma, but her face is similarly relaxed and almost happy.  Her head is tilted backward and her eyebrows are raised in an almost pleasurable way.  Her lips and teeth are still visible, and she is not slack jawed as one might expect an unconscious person to be.

Uncanny X-Men #508 by Matt Fraction and Greg Land

Another concern comes from the cover of Uncanny X-Men #508, in which the “Sisterhood of Evil Mutants” is poised to attack the X-Men.  These characters might be in a “sisterhood”, but only two of them are actually sisters.  Why, then, do all of these women look so disturbingly alike?  At a glance, this could be a photomontage of one woman wearing different outfits and hairstyles.  The faces are so alike that it becomes almost disturbing to look at.  In the issue itself, if the characters did not have different colored costumes, it would be excruciatingly difficult to tell who was who.  While reading this, and other issues illustrated by Land, a concern is always keeping the story straight.  Because the X-Men cast has so many caucasian characters with similar body types, and because Land illustrates them so similarly, it creates confusion in initial readings of the material, hindering the enjoyment of the story these issues are trying to tell.

Uncanny X-Men #510 by Matt Fraction and Greg Land

Though the theme of the ‘glory of battle’ is sometimes present in comic books, I’m not sure that I would be as happy as Madelyne Pryor and Emma Frost are in the above cover for Uncanny X Men #510.  The confusing visual symbols of the too-realistic, smiling faces, combined with the overly accentuated features of both women make for a troublesome read.  As my brain is identifying both of these images as “human”, I cannot help but feel anxious about the awkward placement of Emma Frosts’ head, chest, and stomach regions.  If I were encountering this figure in real life, this person would have suffered massive spinal injuries, or be living with severe scoliosis.

  Wonder Woman "Spirit of Truth" pg. 24-25 by Alex Ross

Another artist who strays into the uncanny valley is Alex Ross.  His work is widely known for being very photorealistic and painting characters with very human characteristics.  In this panel of Wonder Woman, Ross uses hyper-realistic shading and colors in the figures portrayed, and in the background.  Despite the feeling of “too real”, the characters expressions are natural, and seem to convey the appropriate emotions of concern, fear, and understanding.  Looking at this image does still slightly confuse my “human/not human” sense, but in a more subtle way that is intriguing instead of repulsive.   Most effective here is Ross’ use of light as is bounces off of surfaces to make them appear very three dimensional.  Using a limited color palette, he makes an effective use of value contrasts of light and dark to create drama in the images.  Ross can’t help making the faces in the panels just a bit over-expressive, and this does set off a “yes/no” response when compared to their perfectly-painted bodies.  Looking at Wonder Woman’s collarbone, or the civilian character’s hands and arms is somewhat confusing at first glance.  Ross’s art, while still in this uncanny valley, hits on the more “human” side in the company of images like photographs and realistic paintings from the Baroque period of European art.

Harlequin Valentine by Neil Gaiman and John Bolton

UK Illustrator John Bolton strays close to the edge of this Uncanny cliff, but only looks over the edge.  His illustrations like this one for Neil Gaiman’s Harlequin Valentine use realistic, but vaguely distorted human features to capture the characters emotions and motives.  In this panel in particular, the female character is still and pensive, while the Harlequin character seems to bend around her as if his body were more fluid than a human person.  These details, along with the delicate shadows and highlights make Bolton’s illustrations captivating.  I am again searching the page for what is real, and what is not real, and in this instance it is actually helpful to the narrative.  (Though Bolton uses a photorealistic style is used in this graphic novel, he works in a variety of styles depending on the story.)

While something can be said for the triumph of making your drawings look more and more like real life, I think that the first priority in a comic book or a graphic novel is the communication of the feelings and emotions that do not come across in the characters’ dialogue.  People writing comics obviously take long time developing scripts and thoughts for characters to have, but ultimately there is a hierarchy of symbols that will lead your eyes to look at representations of people and human faces first before anything else.  In this image-based media, it has always been so interesting to me that many times the quality or style of the images are not thought of as having the same weight as the written script.  In these three very similar styles it becomes apparent that images in a comic book or graphic novel can help or harm our ability to read and understand a good story.

The images in the infographic are (L-R) John Romita jr, Frank Quitley, Stuart Immonen, Mike Mayhew, Greg Land, Famke Janssen from X3, Jean from Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and cosplayer Linda Le.

[boomtubecomics]

Female Justice League Line-Ups!

By The Boomtube

Inspired by benito-cereno and his requests for all-female Justice League teams, your friends here at The Boomtube decided to toss our teams into the ring. Check them out below. Reblog and comment on Disqus to tell us how right or wrong we are, and add your picks for your Justice League Lady teams!

ANGELA

Mera

Raven

Big Barda

Oracle

Cassandra Cain

Vixen

Miss Martian

Angela started out with a bold move...not including Wonder Woman. Right or wrong, she's got plenty of heavy hitters on this team. A few of the characters on this line-up could potentially toe morality line, but fortunately she also included Oracle to help keep them all honest.

BEN

Wonder Woman

Hawkwoman

Zatanna

The Question

Negative Woman

Bulleteer

XS

Here's what Ben had to say about his lineup: 

Wonder Woman - The diplomat, the mythic hero, the representative of the Trinity. Wonder Woman has rallied all-female super-armies and has led the Justice League in the past (including the "Justice League of Amazons"). She brings the physical strength and the gravitas necessary when dealing with ancient gods and monsters. Diana's government and U.N. connections are also very, very important.

Hawkwoman - Hawk continuity is a mess, so let us imagine Alan Davis's rendition of Shayera Hol from The Nail, with the best components of Shayera's personality from the JLU cartoons. Hawkwoman is not as physically powerful as Wonder Woman, but has been involved with the League for a significantly long time. Hawkwoman specializes in liaising with law enforcement (always important when super-vigilante groups are involved), and extraterrestrial situations. I liked The Nail's version of Shayera as grieving a lost husband, so I think this version of Hawkwoman is similarly single, although I think they may have gotten a divorce due to the fact that Katar's kind of a dick.

Zatanna Zatara - The third of the classic old hands, Zee has a lot of power and connections in the magical community that even Wonder Woman hasn't been able to cultivate. While she isn't in a position to comfortably negotiate with gods like Diana, Zee does bring a wealth of resouces with her and as she's had the most "public" career, she tends to function as the Public Relations side of things, as well as thinking about things like budgets. Zatanna is often defined by her relationship with her dead father, though, which is one of the reasons I didn't kill off Hawkman.

The Question - Renee Montoya is the Gotham connection. While she doesn't have as many ins with the Bat-Family (mostly just a connection through Huntress), she remains an able detective with an almost relentless sense of justice. She often feels at odds with the more powerful members - particularly Wonder Woman - and is still prone to some of the excessive behaviours of her past (womanizing, drinking to excess). Renee is the on-the-streets member, and perfect for situations that require finesse and a lack of explosions.

Negative Woman - Valentina Vostok is a veteran of the Doom Patrol and in my version, still possesses a budded-off Negative Spirit seething inside of her. She has no hair; if Valentina is seen in public with blonde hair over top of her specially-treated bandages, this is a wig. I like the idea of Valentina struggling with the realities of her disability (seething radiation inside of her, some limitations on her old powers) and some small sense of vanity. Others have used the Bride as a monster figure, and I'm using Valentina in a similar role. She's visually striking and there's something quite insidious about her. She is recruited by Wonder Woman directly, as she is a Russian national. Valentina expects the Justice League to be world-class and not focused on the United States. 

Bulleteer - Alix Harrower has barely done anything since Seven Soldiers, which is such a shame. Invulnerable and super-strong, Alix is recruited through Zatanna, who found her in the wake of the Sheeda invasion, using her magic to gather others involved in the "Spell of the Seven." Still relatively untested in battle, Bulleteer relies heavily on Wonder Woman and Zatanna for mentoring initially, but ultimately finds Diana a little too aloof (she's the leader, her head's everywhere) and ultimately bonds with Negative Woman, as both women struggle with what has been done to their bodies without consent.

XS - Timelost Jenni Ognats of the Planet Aarok, descendent of Barry Allen. Probably on the wrong Earth as well, by this point. I have a soft spot for XS. Fast as fast can be, Jenni is not actually new to being a hero, having proven herself in the far future, but she has no reputation in the here-and-now and is frankly in awe of women like Princess Diana and Hawkwoman. She fills the Flash role and I would see her abandoning her Legion uniform (although she keeps it, her flight ring and utility belt in a safe place) in favour of something more in line with her Family tree--something not unlike what Flash Beyond wears.

And then as a bonus, I'd cast Amanda Waller as official government liaison, as much as Diana and Negative Woman stress that they aren't an American government-funded body..

STEPHANIE

Wonder Woman

Hawkwoman

Big Barda

Echo

Phoenix

Cass Cain

Oracle

Stephanie made a bold choice here in "crossing the streams" into the Marvel Universe. There's a lot of physical strength on this team. Phoenix's presence would certainly make Oracle's job a bit easier, as she can keep a mental connection between the group, but Oracle could still fill the strategist role.

MIKE

Saturn Girl

Zatanna

Inza

Boodika

Lyta Hall

Empress

Mary Marvel

Here's what Mike had to say about this team-up:

"A tear in space-time sends a semi-amnesiac Saturn Girl back to the present-day DC universe. Materializing right before Barbara Gordon/Oracle, all she can mutter over and over is "Krypton will be the death of us all."

Maybe it's Superman? Could it be Supergirl or Superboy? Maybe it's the jarred city of Kandor brimming with potential destruction. Maybe it's a threat the universe has yet to encounter. Regardless, an increasing uneasiness arises within the hero community, particularly towards those with Kryptonian DNA.

Word spreads across the known galaxies, and in order to curb fear, Oracle volunteers to assemble a team that is fully capable of shutting down any perceived threat from the overpowered Kryptonian community. She aims to assemble a hardened crew of psychics and magic-imbued women who gather regularly to train--taking on galactic incursions or secret missions, all while acknowledging that one day they may be asked to turn on a friend and ally.

The first recruited is Zatanna, magic extraordinaire. Through her, they are able to reach out to the newly minted Dr. Fate--Inza. With her is pupil Hippolyta (Lyta) Hall, also known as Fury. She has been touched by the Dreaming, and is able to cross between the natural and supernatural worlds. Lyta has a close connection to Fate, considering her deceased husband held the title briefly.

Next they recruit Empress--telepathic manipulator, who contains a piece of the Anti-Life Equation in her mind. She supports Saturn Girl closely, and they improve one another's mental abilities as she tries to repair the broken memories of the potential dark future Saturn Girl yearns to prevent.

On their first outing to acquire a number of magic-imbued items, they come to blows with a returned Mary Marvel in Khandaq. She has seized Black Adam's powers for her own, and struggles to work through the surge of great mystic power and rage. The team forms a tenuous alliance with her, and she exhibits a hardline anti-hero drive.

Suspicions toward Kryptonians spread all the way to the Green Lantern Corps, considering that Daxamite Sodam Yat has become the entity Ion. An inner circle of the Guardians restore Boodikka a fraction of her "humanity" back, but she retains a number of her enhanced Alpha Lantern powers. She appears before the team at the end of the first arc to serve as the final member of their squad.

The newest incarnation of the Seven Soldiers is born: The Seven Soldiers of Shadow.

It is an uneasy pact--there are doubts about the mission as a whole--having to tactically take out a trusted hero. Sometimes they will take exploratory missions into the Phantom Zone for "target practice," or break into the Fortress of Solitude to learn from the Eradicator. It unsettles many on the team, and a crisis of ethics bubbles to the top."

STEVEN

Amanda Waller/Cyborg

Amazon

Lois Lane/Etrigan

Green Lantern Barda

Ystina the Shining Knight

Danica Williams, the Flash Beyond

Renee Montoya, Batwoman

Here's what Steven had to say:

"Okay, so I cheated.  My pitch for the all-female Justice League is similar to Marvel’s Exiles, meaning that this team is made up of characters from different points in the DC Multiverse. This is already a thing that happens a lot, so it’s not a stretch, and it’s the kind of book that DC really needs. I want this book to be WEIRD and funny awkward, yet teach readers about the multiverse in an easy to understand way. I plan to do a pitch for The Boomtube down the road for this team, so I’ll try to keep it brief here:

Cyborg (NEW):  After an accident at STAR Labs, Amanda Waller is revived, but now as much machine as woman.  I really wanted an excuse to use Amanda Waller, but give her a super-powered twist. Like other incarnations, she is initially anti-Justice League, but after her accident she discovered just how much she’s been lied to all these years.

Amazon (Amalgam): Princess Ororo of Themiscyra is, well, I mean come on. We need to respect that there was a period of time where I could read about a mash-up of Wonder Woman AND Storm. God, the 90s were so great.

Etrigan (NEW): I have a deep love for Silver Age Lois Lane and her constant schemes to trick Superman into getting married. I briefly considered just including Black Lois on the team, but I really wanted a magic user.  And so instead, Lois tries to learn a magic spell to make Superman fall in love with her. It doesn’t work, and instead she becomes bonded to Etrigan the Demon! 

Barda (The Nail): In The Nail, Big Barda was a Green Lantern, whose ring was bonded to a motherbox. In addition, the soul of Scott Free was trapped in her ring and could project itself. Barda is already a badass, but also having a connection to the Corps was something I thought would be useful.

Ystina, the Shining Knight (Current Universe): I really wanted to include one character from the current Earth, but still be a little out of place. Hence, we have Shining Knight. I love her story in Morrison’s Seven Soldiers, and I thought she could be a good companion to Etrigan. Lois and Ystina would both be a good point of entry for discussions about gender identity, since Lois is sometimes male and Ystina is a female who presenting as male. They also both have that medieval thing going. And we get a Pegasus out of the deal.

Danica Williams, the Flash (Justice League Beyond): I needed a speedster, and isn’t Danica just amazing? She gives me a future angle, and also brings some brightness and humor that this team needs. I also see her as a vehicle for “Flash Facts”, to explain different crises and changes to the multiverse that have happened over the years.

Batwoman (NEW): After witnessing the death of her lover Kate at the hands of Two-Face, Renee Montoya takes on the mantle of Batwoman.  I was sort of inspired by alternate histories from the new Gwen Stacy Spider-Woman book, and I was thinking about ways that Renee’s life could have gone differently had she not stepped into the role of The Question." 

MAX

Shining Knight

Amethyst

Streaky the Cat

Kara Zor-El (Depowered)

Power Girl

Huntress (Earth-2)

Looker

Here's Max's story:

"So basically this whole thing revolves around Shining Knight and Amethyst, because they're really awesome and maybe meet up while doing some sword and sorcery stuff. They get along, they use swords. It works. During some Multiverse bullshit, they meet Streaky the Cat, and find her quite agreeable. Streaky likes Amethyst a lot. So they decide to hang.

Because Streaky joins them, so does her handler, Supergirl. Kara recently lost her powers due to reasons, and has been generally sad and floundering, except that she's become an Instagram sensation while taking pics of Streaky in action. Mostly because she feels bad and doesn't have anything better to do, Power Girl decides to try and raise Supergirl's spirits, so she also joins up. She's an unexpected heavy hitter. Steven wants me to push some sort of Olsen Twins gag where PG pretends to be SG, but i'm not really into it.

Huntress has been palling around with PG since they got here from Earth-2, so she decides, 'what the fuck', and joins up with this JL team. Who else is she going to talk to?

Finally, Looker happens to be a big fan of Kara's on Instagram, and so she uses her animal manipulation to convince Streaky to let her join the team. Plus, Looker also just really likes cats. She has a lot of powers, but can really only help out after dark, which is somewhat inconvenient.

Mostly the team is kind of weird and sad, but mostly, they really like Streaky! Shining Knight and Amethyst don't really even realize a team has formed around them; Ystina is from the past and is a little bit naive, and Amethyst is just happy to have some friends."

[boomtubecomics]

COMIC BOOK LEGO PLAYSETS I WANT TO SEE

By Mike Balderrama

The Lego Movie just came out on DVD this past week, and it got me thinking about one of of my favorite components of my hands-down favorite childhood toy. Lego now has super heroes.

As a product of the late 80s and 90s, I built with Lego. The day I found out you could pop out the legs from the pelvic portion of a minifig, you bet that I put blue legs onto a base--thus making an iconic "underwear on the outside" Superman figure. Rudimentary? Sure. But Lego is so much about tapping into the imagination with what you build. My Superman took down his fair share of bald-headed yellow Lex Luthors with their oddball monster machines conjured in my Elementary school brain.

I'm pretty sure the Batman Lego sets were the first to hit the scene. That blew my mind in college. I even remember shipping a set across the ocean to my significant other because of our mutual love of the caped crusader. Since then, I've been increasingly happy with what those wacky Danes have managed to produce for children in the new millennium. My parents have a rule about tossing a tiny Lego set in my Christmas stocking every year, so I've been lucky to catch these treats as they hit the scene.

Admittedly, in the Lego Move (a Warner Brothers produced film), there were no Marvel-property minifigs on display, BUT walk down any toy aisle, and you have the ability to pick up a Hulk Lego set with one hand, and Wonder Woman with the right. Even within those Marvel sets, you can have Wolverine AND Thor--something that won't happen up on the big screen for a very long time thanks to those pesky film rights.

You know what, Lego? There are plenty more sets I'd love to shop for. So as much as I want to throw all listicles into the red hot fire of Rao, here are a handful of suggested playsets of varying feasibility. Ole Kirk Christiansen? Call me, buddy.

  Marvel

1) X-Mansion. Yup. Just give us all the X-Men figures you can. I want to see a danger room and everything. Someone made a prototype shown above (and described in better detail here). It features upwards of 45 characters, and it's amazing. Uncanny, even.

2) Here's an easy-to-execute hard sell. Lego 1602. You can convert a lot of the pirate and knight sets no problem. Lots of fun scenes to play out like The Inquisitor at the Stake."

3) Gotta have that Gwen Stacy George Washington Bridge set, right? No. Not at all. That'd be like asking them to release an Alex DeWitt refrigerator set. Let's class it up a little bit with some Maximum Clonage! Who wouldn't want a Scarlet Spider, a Kaine, and a skeleton in a smokestack? Comes with 50 Gwen Stacy clones.

DC

1) There should be a huge magic set! It's gotta happen. Dr. Fate will mentioned briefly in the Constantine TV show; he had a part in Smallville; and carried some big episodes of Young Justice and Justice League. Get this guy a minifig! With that same mold they use for The Incredible Hulk--work out an Etrigan figure as they do battle against a tiny Klarion the Witchboy (complete with Teekl the cat)!

2) Lego Mogo. Needs no explanation, and even less elaboration. Quick question: how many pieces of Lego would make up a planet-sized character?

3) Too many Lego Marvel things revolve around New York City. First, let's get some Luke Cage love, shall we? Second up, let's base his sets around  that Hero For Hire period of his life when he patrolled Chicago.

The Rest

1) I want a Lego Technic/masterbuilder set of the WE3 animals. Work some hulking machines around those gender-binary Lego Belville cat dog and rabbit figures. That's a strong way to turn it around in their favor.

2) HELLBOY. Hands-down serious. This could be amazing. Get some BPRD going on too? A custom bulked-up arm would be a real treat, but any opportunity to show some Abe Sapien and Liz Sherman is worth it. If you want to do some cinematic callbacks, those Golden Army designs would result in some beautiful clockwork-style builds.

3) Manhattan Projects. What better way to convince your parents to buy you some Lego than saying "it's historical!" You know, the kind of Alt-History where Robert Oppenheimer's evil twin is conducting all sorts wonky mad-science and fighting the Illuminati.

What sorts of comic book themed Lego sets would you want to see? Post a comment below. Hey, if you're the type of person who prefers Playmobil, you can sound-off too!

[boomtubecomics]

SUPER-HAIKUS #1

By The Boomtube

Steven M.

Pretty Guardian

Moon prism power transform

Bad demons beware!

  The Spider-Woman

Said she would buy the flowers

herself. What a lark!

  The Phoenix Rises

Another crappy event

Is it Xorn this time?

  Franklin B. Richards

do not look under your bed

it's victor Von doom!

  Mike

Hey, All-New X-Men!

Original Recipe

Still problematic.

  Did you hear some news?

A Wonder Woman Movie?!

Yeah, me neither. Shit.

  Magneto moves me

Maybe the murder mutant

makes magnetism?

  Stephanie

Bruce Wayne is Batman Dark Knights live inside us all Batman is Bruce Wayne

  Got your own haiku poetry to put into the world? Drop us a line at [email protected] and yours may appear in our next edition! 

[boomtubecomics]

CHILDHOOD TRAUMA AND COMIC BOOKS

By Angela Kucera

What follows are Angela's thoughts about child abuse in comics and how characters have become stronger in spite of their traumas. We think this goes without saying, but we'd like to issue a TRIGGER WARNING on the following content.

In the brain/body/heart dynamic of comic books, trauma is the body. It's the vehicle that allows for the actual act of being a superhero, it is the power that lets the characters be great. Every superhero has a tragic back story, some sort of trauma that set them up for the greatness that they reach.

Some characters are powered by their trauma, they use the damage that they sustain to protect themselves and others. And some others turn their traumas into powers themselves, splitting themselves into the protector and the protected.

Bruce Banner is probably the most famous comic character who did that. The Hulk is literally a manifestation of his anger at the fact that his father abused him and then murdered his mother.

(Hulk: Season One by Fred Van Lente)

Bruce is ashamed of the fact that he is angry, he's ashamed of the Hulk. He doesn't let that shame keep him from doing the right thing (except for World War Hulk? Does that even matter in canon right now? I have no clue what is proper 616 canon anymore and what isn't, but I don't think anyone really knows.), but he is two parts of the same person: the Hulk is the anger and power that Bruce wanted as a child, and Bruce is the scared, distrustful child that couldn't protect his mother or stop his father.

That isn't to say that the Hulk is perfect, that he's the adult in the situation, because he has the anger and the control of a child, whereas Bruce has the control and functionality that an adult needs. Together they make the full person, the full spectrum of the consequences of childhood abuse.

Another character that was abused as a child and fractured as a result is Crazy Jane from Doom Patrol. Like Bruce, she was abused by her father, though he repeatedly molested her as opposed to the non-sexual physical abuse that Bruce received at the hands of his father. Her personality began to fracture into different personas during her childhood, with her actual person (Kay) being replaced by someone named Miranda. Later on in her life, Miranda is the victim of an attempted rape, which triggered flashbacks to her father's abuse and completely fractured her personality.

Crazy Jane's powers are based on all of the different personas that she has, each one has a different skill set and comes forward as needed. They all live in a mental subway station, which is simply called The Underground.

(Doom Patrol by Grant Morrison)

The pain these characters suffered, the unimaginably terrible things that they faced and put inside themselves because it was the only way to stay safe, is also the source of their power. Comic books normally show us the monsters outside, the ones that can be punched away, but the monsters inside are secrets. They're one-off showy things, like an angry psychic ruining your day.

Comics normally tell us that, as soon as the fight is done, as soon as the monster is gone, then everything is fine and normal. Sometimes a character will have some minor trauma, a mild drinking problem that gets retconned by the next writer to take over, but it's rare for a character to show that trauma stays with you, it stays hidden inside of you in a place that no punching can reach, and that sometimes you have to either swallow it and accept it, or you have to fight it until there's nothing left of you.

These characters became the monsters that they needed to punch, because it was the only way to survive. That doesn't mean that they became something bad, that they literally became the monsters that hurt them, just that they became the pain and the trauma inside themselves to do good, to prove that the abused doesn't always become the abuser, but instead can become the hero.

Showing childhood trauma, normalizing childhood trauma, is a powerful thing. deantrippe talks about the power of comics in overcoming childhood sexual abuse in his comic Something Terrible. He was able to use the power of superheroes, even though they aren't real, to heal from something horrific. Showing actual characters who suffered those same sorts of abuse? Can and will help so many to heal, to learn to use the power their monster gave them to be stronger and to be better. It also teaches them that there's no shame in it, that there's no weakness in having these demons inside you.

(Saga by Brian K Vaughan)

Just because trauma is the body that supports comics, doesn't mean that they don't also show us that we can overcome, that our traumas don't destroy us. We can be stronger than we thought, we can beat the monsters inside of our heads and hearts, just like they beat the monsters in their worlds.