The Ladies be Fightin' Crime, Yo.

Aw yeah, haircut! Its Friday, April 22, 2011, I look great, and this is The Side.
bieng about six months overdue for a haircut I finally managed to eek out a little time to get into a little chain hair-cuttin' type place. After getting the junk from work shampooed out of my hair, the lady asked me how I wanted my hair cut.

"I need a hair cut that says 'millionaire playboy by day, crimefighter by night'. Give me... "The Bruce Wayne".

That's all she needed to know. Best haircut I ever got.

COMIX!!!

I'm starting off with ZATANNA #12 this week. Matthew Sturges takes the reigns from Paul Dini, and before some of the hardcore Diniphiles begin with the wailing and gnashing of teeth, relax, this was a great issue. Zee takes on a new villain, Backslash, who kills mythic creatures, eats bad fast food, and is a complete jerk. Oh , he can also move time backwards for short spans completely nullifying Zee's powers. Not good for our fishnet clad neroine. So how can she defeat this guy? Fun with the English language! If you haven't been picking up this book, this is a great stand alone story to give it a shot. And if you need more tempting, there's gorgeous art by Stephane Roux to further tempt you.

SUPERGIRL #63 continues the "Good Looking Corpse" storyline and it looks like the final secret of Alex is revealed. I've been a little tepid on this story. Its fine, but I didn't think it was good to have so many guest stars in a creative team's lead off story for their run. Looking back over the last few issues and seeing how they slowly let more and more information out about Alex in such a controlled manner I have to give them props. Its been well paced, and the use of guest stars Robin, Blue beetle, and Miss Martian haven't overshadowed Supergirl's role in the book. I was worried it was going to turn into "Titans: Metropolis", but it hasn't. This is still Supergirl's book and the guests are handled well. I did get word that this book is going to have another shift in creative teams, but I'm not sure if its permanent. Probably has something to do with DC losing Nick Spencer to Marvel. It has taught me not to gripe about artists who are attached to a book. I wasn't super thrilled with Bernard Chang on the book, but once I found out the next artist is going to be ChrisCross I wanted to beg Chang to stay.

TEEN TITANS #94 was pretty good stuff. The team travels to another dimension to try to save Wonder Girl and her mother as well as find Solstice's parents. This story is teetering on a few complains I've had about previous Titan runs. Raven hasn't taken the problem spotlight, but it seems she has an adverse reaction to Solstice's presence. I don't really like having Raven in the center of things as its been done to death, but its not the main focus of the story. Combine that with me not having seen two heroes whose powers adversely affect each other in each others presence since Firestorm and Captain Atom way back when, and I can live with it. Also it looks like the formula of having one team member in trouble and the rest rushing to help is starting to rear its head. However, that's not completely the case as the team was summoned for help by Wonder Girl's mother and has gotten into it with serious opposition. As for this opposition its pretty nice to see Indian Mythology used in a story. There's an in story jab about how often Greek Mythology is used, and that's a pretty good point. This is an alright read.

To wrap things up, we're thinking pink with TINY TITANS #39. A bunch of super capes get tossed in the laundry at Wayne Mansion and everyone's costume comes out pink. Hilarity ensues. Fun issue. Probably the most pink I've ever seen in one comic. Great for young readers, or anyone who wants a lighter change of pace.

MUSIC!!!

She's had it up to... where?



That's the ball game for me. I'll see y'all Sunday. Don't get any on ya.

Batman's puttin' on a few pounds

Get in my belly! Its Friday, March 25, 2011, the hunger is upon me, and this is The Side. Came across one of those "Parents need to read this" articles on Yahoo, featuring the First Lady. Her current cause is fighting childhood obesity, which is fine. That's something I can support and do my part to get my students in shape through various and sundry methods of torture. Unfortunately Michelle Obama is still rambling on about the importance of BMI (Body Mass Index). So its nice she doing something, but unfortunately she's going about it in a stupid way.

Never go by BMI. It don't take into account bone density, muscle mass, or body fat percentages. According to BMI Shane Carwin, and Randy Couture are overweight. So we're going to tell children that their overweight based on number from a fatally flawed system? Why don't we just give them all eating disorders now and be done with it.

COMIX!!!

BATMAN INCORPORATED #4 hit this week. That's right, two issue in the same month which makes up for the lag between issues 2 and 3 for me. Chris Burnham joins Morrison on this one, and this guy can draw his ass off. At first I was a a little bummed that it was different artist, but that only lasted about three pages. Wow. Batman and Gaucho are still pitted against each other in a deathmatch to save three children. Meanwhile we have a little story shift with Batwomen, both the awesome Kate Kane and the silver age Kathy Kane whose superpower seems to have been fighting crime while supporting massive boobs. This issue is starting to tie a lot of things together, and digs up a ton of Silver Age stuff. Its got Ace the Bat-Hound in there for cryin' out loud. For those thinking "what the hell" I thought the Silver Age was all gone bye bye. That's not the case. Since INFINITE CRISIS the Silver Age has been acknowledged a lot more, especially by Morrison in his Bat run. I think that's one of the bones of contention with the Morrison haters. They like the dark 90s version of Batman, and don't want to think about the really weird bat-stories from the 50s. Morrison draws from those stories and makes really incredible stuff from them. I've hit the point in the storyline in which I've gone from just liking the story to going all in and waiting for the next issue with what little patience I can muster.

SUPERGIRL #62 was good, but I'm still wondering where Nick Spencer got to. I'm enjoying the storyline, but with this being the maiden voyage for James Peaty and Bernard Chang on this title I'm wondering if this is really the right time for a big team-up. I'm always happy to see Robin, Blue Beetle, and Miss Martian, but it just seems to me that they should be focusing a bit more on our main character. It kind of read like a Mini-Teen Titans. That's not really a bad thing as I love the Teen Titans, but it just seems a bit odd to have so many guests so soon. The truth about Alex is revealed, and he's a lot more dangerous than previously thought, and that's saying something as he was previously pretty damn scary. Its a fun ride, and while I'm a little put off by all the guest stars so soon, I can't really hold it against the book because they're all handled very well.

ATOMICA #6 hit the shelves this week. The story has been building up for the last couple of issues, but we're getting all the answers in "Atomica Must Die!" The title seemed pretty retro, and one of the things that drew me to this book was how Rose Lockhart was such an homage to many silver age heroines. Now it all comes crashing down as the Metavore, which Dr. Astray warned of last issue, arrives. Its baffling how Rose could be linked to something that consumes realities, but its all laid out for readers. It was a pretty tough read. This character is a lot of fun, but the romp may well end in tragedy. It seems for the world to survive, as the title says, Atomica must die. There's big cliffhanger as to whether or not her friends will do what they have to do to say the world, or will the love for their friend mean the end of everything. We'll find out soon enough.

MUSIC!!!

I really need to go bowling again.



That's the whole nine yards this time around. See y'all Sunday.

Baltazar and Franco overtake my pullbox

Surf's up! Its Friday, February 18, 2011, I'm heading to the beach, and this is The Side. I'm not going for my own enjoyment though. There's work to be done, and fortunately the ocean air is just what the doctor ordered for my cantankerous sinuses. I'm not a huge fan of the beach, but it is pretty and the dolphins have been out lately, so if I'm going to go do some labor at least I'm somewhere pleasant doing it.

COMIX!!

SUPERGIRL #61 is up first on the list. I didn't see Nick Spencer credited on the writing this time around, and am wondering what's up with that. The story is progressing along well enough. We get a team-up with Robin, and Damien is his usual charming self. The Cadmus sub-plot is taking its time playing out. The Alex character continues to use his social media app to target young superheroes and send opponents his way. The story is taking is time revealing things about this guy, but he's shaping up to be a good opponent for the Girl of Steel. This storyline is getting a lot of attention from me because its the first since Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle rehabbed the character. When Jeph Loeb and Michael Turner first brought her into play she was pretty much a jailbait character would just a bit sleazy. Gates made a decent character out of her while Igle refined her look to make her look a bit less trampy. Bernard Chang isn't an exploitative artist and keeps his approach to Kara tasteful enough. Peaty his doing well with the sotry, and decent enough with Kara, but she is coming across a little flat. But this is their first story with the character so I'm sure they'll have more fun with her once they settle in.

The Shazam Family drops in on TINY TITANS #37. It looks like they're getting set to be regulars on the cast which is fine by me. Hoppy the marvel Bunny has been around with the bunny and Pet Club running gags for a while. Talky Tawny is the newest teacher at Sidekick City Elementary. All and all its pleasant enough. The cast has gotten pretty unwieldy though. There were already a lot of characters for readers to keep track of wen the series debuted. It has been amusing to see so many characters get the Tiny Titans treatment, but I do worry that the series is getting more of a "Look who pops in this month" treatment than having fun stories and gags with the established characters. Still, its a fun book, and for someone who knows all the characters from the DCU proper its a hoot.

Art Baltazar and Franco join up with Mike Norton on YOUNG JUSTICE #1 spinning off from the Cartoon Network show. Having not seen the cartoon I was going into this unprepared. I was a huge fan of the old Peter David/Todd Nauck YOUNG JUSTICE comic. I've followed those characters for years. So this series featuring Superboy and Miss Martian alongside a teenage Dick Greyson and Wally West smacked my continuty button upside the head. It took quite a bit of doing on my part o get around that. Superboy in this series is quite different from Superboy in the DCU proper and even in Baltazar and Franco's TINY TITANS. He's much more contemplative and quiet. Unfortunately that doesn't do much to warm us up to this version of the character and he gets nearly all the face time in the book. Miss martian is around for a bit, and she's a peach, but once she leaves the book goes downhill fast. There's weird stuff going on in their headquarters at Mount Justice, which would be interested if we weren't stuck with a complete stick in the mud for a protagonist. I want to keep supporting this title, but I think a lot of it comes from my love of the old series. There's not enough here to make me want to stick around.

MUSIC!!

That was a bit short this time around, but unfortunately I haven't had a lot of time to get stuff typed up. We'll see how the weekend goes. See y'all Sunday.

Funny Pheasant Page Plucking

As many as have that chicken! They shall not forget that they have a tentacle up their backside. Its Friday, January 21, 2011, I'm writing this entire week off, and this is The Side. There comes a time when you have to realize that making your week awesome and productive is just a lost cause, so you just have to "screw it" and endeavor to do better next time around. Which is pretty much the source of that opening couple of lines.

Back in good ol' Philosophy 101 I sat next to my pal, Beast. Beast and I lived together, bowled together, and narrowly managed to not fail classes together. While we were quite handy in many things, that class wasn't one of them. We did alright, and the professor was awesome, but sometimes we'd get those quizzes and did not have a clue was to what the answer might be. On one such occasion, Beast just said the hell with it. There was no turning in a blank paper here. If you were going to give a wrong answer, you might as go down in glorious flames. Hence the "As many as have that chicken." which if I remember correctly actually earned partial credit for pure entertainment value.

CONVERSATIONS WITH PEOPLE

I went into a 7-11 very hungry and thirsty. I grabbed a Snickers bar and tasty ginger ale. I approach the counter with no one in line eager to pay up so I can enjoy my snack. The woman at behind the counter turns to me and asks very insistently, "Have you ever plucked a chicken?"

This query demanded an answer not just due to the content, but for the fact that she barked this command at me giving the impression that if I did not immediately she would pelt me with a Toquito. So answer I did.

"I am not the pheasant plucker. I am the pheasant plucker's son. And I'll keep on plucking pheasants until the pheasant plucking's done."

She was noticeably taken aback by my response.

"Well, I don't know why you brought that up." She said with as much indignity as can be mustered by a moron.

"Lady, I just wanted to pay for my candy bar and tasty ginger ale, and you demanded to know if I ever plucked a chicken. Consider yourself lucky that's all I came back with. Now, can we get on with my purchase before I lose any more brain cells?"

I really wish there was another convenience store near that job.

COMIX!!

Let's go first with SUPERGIRL #60 which begins the run for Nick Spencer and James Peaty writing the book and Bernard Chang handling the art. I made the mistake of thinking it was Cliff Chang that was going to be handling the art. Whoops. I went in a bit put off because it was another event cover, and this one was done by Amy Reeder, whom I really like. But then I get into the book which has a new artist on it and I feel lied to by the first impression of the book. I'm really back and forth on the debate about having a different cover artist on a title as opposed to the person who actually did the art in the book. This one went in the con column. As for the art in the book, Bernard Chang is a perfectly serviceable artist, but I'm really, really, really missing Jamal Igle right now. However, the writing on this one is top notch. There's so much going on here. The Daily Planet staff continues to be an interesting part of the book. Supergirl gets in some serious trouble all thanks to a new baddie who is absolutely fascinating. While we had last week with RED ROBIN the notion of what sci-fi cyberspace was thought to be back in the 80s, here we have a villain who is firmly rooted in the current information age, with a solid knowledge of how it works and how to weaponize it. I've been very critical of online applications that allow users to give out information about other people. Here's exactly what I've warned of as applied to the DCU. There's some smart writing going on here, and while the art didn't really suit my taste, I'm fully on board with this story.

Over in TINY TITANS #36 Terra leads some friends on an expedition to the center of the Earth. This issue stands out as being the only time I know of that the entire comic was one story with no little side gag pages. Its good times and we get to see more Kid Devil and Hot Spot. I love Kid Devil in this book. The character got unceremoniously depowered and bumped off in the regular Teen Titans book, which sucks, but at least we got a cute version still doing fun stuff here. Art Baltazar and Franco know what works with this book and stick to it. Its light and fun with little nods to the main DCU continuity but without all the baggage that comes along with it.

MUSIC!!

Because I mentioned beast earlier, I had to throw in our theme song, which we spend many a time singing along with at the top of our lungs, much to the chagrin of everyone in Harrisonburg, VA.



Alright, we made to the foxtrot once again. Remember, next Wednesday is "Ask Nozz Day" so send me some questions to answer. Have a good one and I'll see y'all Sunday.

Super-Ladies press the Press

It's Friday, December 17, 2010, everything outside is frozen, and this is The Side. I'd type more on stuff that's going on, but it all comes down to one thing. Its freakin' cold and we've gotten a lot of snow for this area for December and there's more on the way. I hate snow. Still, it could be a lot worse. I could be up in Minnesota.

Stay warm, Linda!

COMIX!!

BIRDS OF PREY #7 should come with a warning on the cover: "CAUTION: contents contain male strippers". I'm cruising on through this issue which kicks off the "Death of Oracle" storyline, there's a really cool scene with Babs and Bruce, I turn the page and WHAMMO! Great big men wearing banana hammocks and little else! Startled the hell out of me. Thanks a bunch, Gail Simone. That aside (which wasn't really a problem, but it did catch me off guard) this issue was great. Raises a question as to whether or not there's a double agent in the Birds as The Calculator is looking to yet again take on Oracle. The gals are all out having a good time for Dove's birthday, who is utterly mortified by the entire thing. Oracle and Batman have a bunch of really good stuff going on as this storyline looks to be one where things really change for the characters in a really great way. Its one of those issues where I can say if you haven't been reading this comic here's a good place to jump on board. My favorite bit in there actually addresses something that bugged me previously. In James Robinson's really awful CRY OF JUSTICE series, it was alluded to that Hal Jordan had a threesome with Huntress and Lady Blackhawk. It was a macho high five moment that I would expect from some meathead teenagers. Some friends of mind online joked that Huntress and Lady Blackhawk probably drank him under the table and he doesn't remember a thing. This issue made me wonder it Simone saw that exchange. Loved it!

Moving it on over to SUPERGIRL #59 which wraps up Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle's definitive run on the book. Much like Greg Rucka's run on WONDER WOMAN, all other runs by creative teams on this book will be judged against Gates and Igle's work here. Its been that good, and their final issue is no exception. The story involving Cat Grant finally comes to a close and brings things full circle, in a really awesome way. We also get a nice Christmas scene at the end on the Kent farm with the rest of the family. I found this part to be interesting in that early runs on this title pretty much showed Kara off as jailbait. Seeing her in this issue, particularly at the end shows us a Kara who is a mature, respectful young lady. She's become the kind of character I would like my daughters to look up to. And of course there's plenty of cool action in the story as Kara spends much of it trying to track down who's been kidnapping children. Great book from top to bottom. The next creative team is very good and I'm looking forward to seeing what they do, but they've seriously got some big shoes to fill.

EXTRA EXTRA!!

I have trust issues with the media, particularly news media. There's bias there obviously, so we tend to tune into whichever news source shares our biases, unless we want to piss ourselves off them we tune into the other side. But my trust issues aren't really about bias. They mainly stem from my observation that most of the people who report news are trying to interpret life without much knowledge of how life actually is. And then there's a fact that many of the ratings-crazed doghumpers would report on their grandmothers being utterly destroyed by insane, genetically altered ferrets if they could just get the story out ahead of their competition.

When did I come to distrust the media? It was probably about ten years ago. My father was part of an Air Force reserve unit. They're an engineering unit, meaning when something needs built somewhere they deploy to do it. There was a mission in Florida in which part of the unit, not including my father, went to Florida. The mission went completely fine and they were on the way back when there was a problem and the plain crashed killing (if memory serves me) seventeen members of the unit. Terrible tragedy and a really tough time for everyone.

My father was placed in charge of building a memorial on the base which turned out incredible. Also, he was assigned a family of one of the fallen to help through this time. There was a lot of paperwork to get through which he helped with and he also served as a liaison to keep the family updated about everything going on including the investigation as to what caused the crash.

A month later the investigation about the crash concluded. In real life that's how long these things take. Its not like the movies when they rush in their team of experts and have results in a day or two. These things take time and a lot of it. So my father and the rest of the family liaisons were called to a meeting. The findings were gone over and all the questions were asked and answered. The following day, the liaisons were going to go to the families and go over everything and report the findings, hopefully to give a little closure to the grieving families.

That night, I'm at the bar, checking IDs and making sure all the drunks behaved themselves. There were about seven TV in the place and the one right in front of me had on the local 11 o'clock news.

Guess what the lead story was.

There had been a leak. The findings were not to be released to the media until all the families affected were briefed on everything. But there it was for everyone to see. A story about a plane crash over a month ago, in which the only people who really gave a damn about it were supposed to find out personally the following day. In the local news's defense it had been a slow day and they needed something concerning somebody dying to lead off with.

This lead to the next day when my father goes to the family, who are understandably upset to say the least. Why should they even talk to my father when the results were on the news? Why wouldn't they be the first to know what had really happened to their son?

I utterly seethed about that for a long time. There was once some stuff called integrity and ethics attached to news and journalism. They call that censorship now. An asshole with a website gets a hold of classified documents that he shouldn't? Well, he's got a right to publish them. That doesn't mean that he should, but it'll drive up his page views. Canadian news station shows an athlete suffering a fatal accident at the Olympics over and over again? No problem! It wasn't a close up, so that means it wasn't sensationalized enough for it so be exploiting a some poor guy getting killed.

Just because this is the "information age" does not mean that we should be able to get every last bit of information in front of us at our whim. There are things like discretion and ethics that should be drilled into anyone who wants to be a journalist or reporter. They need to know what needs to be made public and what really should be sat on. Julian Assange isn't a journalist. He's a douchebag with a website who gets his mitts on stuff he shouldn't and waves it in front of everybody because he has the law to hide behind. That Canadian station that ran that footage from the Olympics over and over and over again? That was a complete jag-off move and if they don't know it, they're complete morons. And that local news show that decided to lead with a story without considering the people it would affect or hurt? They're just assholes.

MUSIC!!

Since this week's comic reviews were all about the ladies (not including the male strippers) here's a song about more ladies.



Alright, time for me to probably go explore Ice Station Norfork. If I die horribly and freeze into a giant Nozzsicle, I'll let you know.

"The snail is the devil."

It's Friday, October 22, 2010 and we're continuing our two weeks of Halloween. heard from on of my Karate parents that a school is getting ready for their "Fall Festival", to which I responded "Why don't they just call it a Halloween Party, and get it over with." Oh no. That would lead to parents complaining to the school board I'm told.

Parents who complain about a school having a Halloween Party need the stick surgically removed from their asses.

There's a lot to enjoy about Halloween and one of the things I enjoy the most is the costumes. Sure, I like the scarier costumes that are traditionally associated with Halloween, but the idea of dressing up and getting out of yourself for a night is a lot of fun. Sure my buddy's son who is planning on dressing up as Batman doesn't know every detail about the character and isn't going to try to really play the role. he's three. he just wants to run around in a fun outfit and say "I'm Batman."

Hell, I want to run around in a fun costume and say "I'm Batman." Halloween is the night in which I get to do it and not have folks think I'm some kind of nut.

There's something to be said for masks. We can act a bit freer. We can take on roles that others don't think fit us. We spend a lot of time having to be ourselves in the real world, so its fun to play a different part, or at least dress the part.

Makes me want to get myself a Cape and Cowl for the Halloween.

Just as long as its not cursed.

SPOOKY COMICS!!!

OK, the comics this week for the most part aren't spooky, but I've got a theme going here so just deal with it.

Let's get the ball rolling with TINY TITANS #33. The comic has introduced its versions of Jason Todd and Tim Drake as pretty much toddlers. But having three Robins is not enough. All the kids in the daycare decide they want to be Robin too. So you have a bunch of little kids running around as Robin just in time for Halloween. This was neat because they worked in Shephanie Brown and Carrie from THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. I do wonder why little Cassandra Cain had a picture of Dan DiDio that she held onto so warmly. Perhaps she's hoping her DCU main equivalent will get a another series. Lot of fun to be had here.

Moving on over to SUPERGIRL #57 we have our hero dealing with the loss of her planet. Recently Superman and Supergirl suffered a heavy tragedy with the loss of new Krypton. While Superman has dealt with it by walking across the country and being a jerk, Supergirl is doing what she can to save an entire planet. I like her way to dealing better, its certainly more entertaining. Sterling Gates continues to make this the definitive run of this book and I know he's leaving soon, so the next writer is going to have big shoes to fill. The art this time around is handled by Bernard Chang, who with be taking over for Jamal Igle as he also departs the book. I like Bernard Chang, but again, he's got big shoes to fill since Igle was crucial in changing Kara's image away from the "Superjailbait" look. The comic itself dealt a lot with Kara looking at herself by way of seeing her 'reflection' in Bizarro-girl. The introspection was balanced nicely by a giant creature trying to destroy Bizarro World and Kara leading the Bizarros against it. Its a great story covered in a blanket of weird sci-fi. Big win.

I saved BATMAN AND ROBIN #15 for last because there so much going on in here. I absolutely love the fact that this story is coming to head right around Halloween. We're smack in the middle of the "Batman and Robin Must Die" storyline, and everything that's been going on since Grant Morrison started this is coming to a head. The reason I'm so stoked that this is all going down around Halloween is that one of the main themes in the entire run has been playing roles and theatricality. The very first issue of BATMAN he wrote featured Alfred trying to coach Bruce on playing the part of Bruce. It just kept rolling from there. We had the three police officers playing the role of Batmen. Batman and The Joker both taking on different personae. There was that "Battle for the Cowl" nonsense, but then onto Dick Grayson playing the role. We also had Damien Wayne attempting to take the role of Robin from Tim Drake and finally getting it.

On the other side we have Doctor Hurt playing the part of Thomas Wayne. We saw him rehearsing shooting Dick Grayson in the head. There's the whole "The Black Glove" movie that's just come back into the narrative. Everyone is playing the parts, but the actors are having it out as to what kind of story this will be.

I've been right all along. This is all about laundry. Who is going to play the roles? Who is going to wear the costumes? Good and evil are battling it out over who gets to wear the Cape and Cowl.

And the problem with reviewing an issue like this is that there's so much absolutely incredible stuff here that I want to absolutely gush on and on about forever, but I don't want to give away any spoilers. The contents of the box was easily the greatest thing ever, and I'd bet my bottom dollar that the last page was not what it seemed. The good guys have unleashed their ultimate weapon and I'm just giddy about it.

SPOOKY MUSIC!!!

And this song is definitely spooky.



Onward to the weekend.

Comics to make you cry

Great Scott! (I've always wondered which Scott they're talking about.) Its Friday, August 20, 2010. I heard yesterday that economically this is being called "the Summer of Recovery" by the White House. Funny. I wasn't broke in June.

Buncha jerks.

BATMAN DON'T CRY!!!

Recently a study was done claiming that super heroes are not good role models for young boys. I dove into this. This could have led to a biting commentary about how superheroes are portrayed and the writing of comic books and that whole "the medium has grown up" blather. But no, it was a weak sauce attack on Ironman, specifically the movies, for showing off 'bling' and womanizing. Ironman is the logical choice for criticism since the movies are currently the hottest superhero property going. Its also a fair criticism of the character as portrayed by Robert Downey Jr.

Unfortunately it ends there, and hits upon its main point: superheroes don't help young boys to talk about their feelings. And at that point mentions of superheroes get few and far between revealing this for what it is, and that's a waste of time. This 'study' is obviously cashing in on the current popularity of superheroes in movies to get attention to their crap. But its a study by someone who claims to be intelligent and know what they are talking about, so unfortunately someone is going to take it seriously. Hopefully not in the way "Seduction of the Innocent" was taken seriously.

According to this study young boys are encouraged to take on the social roles of "macho man" or "slacker". It is now obvious that no actual comic books were read in pursuit of this research. It also criticizes the role of superheroes comparing them to "action stars" who are in stories of violence and action. I guess they would much prefer the current JMS Superman storyline of him walking down the the street and being douche. The stupidity of these "findings" is just mind boggling. For the past few years it seems that every other writer has been hell bent on making Superman cry. And the comparing them to "action stars" is accurate because that's what superheroes are. If you can bench press a bus, who wants to stories about you having tea and discussing literature.

Are superheroes bad role models for young boys? That depends on the character. You probably wouldn't want your son wanting to grow up idolizing the Punisher. However there is no shortage of characters that are good role models like Superman, Batman, and Spider-man. A guy with power to do whatever he wants but uses them to help whoever he can. A guy who through through horrible tragedy uses it as a motivation to become something great. A guy that doesn't have things easy, but doesn't walk away from his responsibility to do what's right.

And yes these characters do share their feelings on a regular basis. There are pages and pages of captions featuring their inner monologues. Sure, they share their feelings with the readers, and not often with each other. There's usually not much time for that when the planet is about to explode. Still, it does pop up here and there, like when Superman was talking to the Flash about being worried sometimes of not being able to live up to people's expectations of him. Of course a bit after that he prevented the Moon from crashing into the Earth and wrestled the renegade King Angel of the Bull Host. Really though, its not up to comic books and superheroes to teach kids personal relationship skills and how to deal with their emotions. That's the job of parents. Comic books, specifically the superhero genre, are escapism. Its entertainment. Its great when entertainment can be educational, but mostly its their so people can have a bit of fun for a while.

Ultimately, this study is pointless and seems to come from the viewpoint that men and boys should all talk about their feelings and emote about everything. Newsflash: we're guys. Us talking about our feelings typically boils down into a couple of sentences, and then we move on.

Unless you have a blog and tend to ramble a lot.

COMIX!!

Starting things off this week with TINY TITANS #31. This issue was hoot with a birthday party for the clone of a clone, fun with the Brainiac Club and the Tiny Titans meeting the Little Legion of Super-Heroes. This series is a hoot with its little jabs at the mainstream DCU. It consistently finds a way to be perfect for little kids yet still have enough charm and clever bits to keep an older audience smiling.



Always remember to be careful what you ask for.

Moving on to my read of the week: SUPERGIRL #55. Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle continue to knock this title right out of the park. This book struggled horribly under big time writers like Jeph Leob and even Greg Rucka, but Gates has captured the character so wonderfully that this book is just a joy. I've been a fan of Igle's art since his run on FIRESTORM. Its spot on and does a great job of making Supergirl look attractive without making her look like jailbait.

This issue has Supergirl taking on Bizarrogirl! That's right, a Bizarro Supergirl! Gates and Igle absolutely nail how dangerous Bizarrogirl is while simultaneously making her hysterical. Also we continue to have the supporting cast be incredibly strong in this book. Doctor Light and Gangbuster are really fun in this book. I've was never really a fan of either character before them being in this book, but they fit perfectly and play well off Supergirl. A great supporting cast is really what cements a solid superhero comic and Gates' run on this book has really set up a great cast and a great tone for the series. Top to bottom, a good time.

Shifting away from DC over to Dark Horse, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: RILEY hit the shelves this week. Its written by Jane Espenson who wrote more than a few episodes of the TV series. Art is handled beautifully by Karl Moline who many will remember as having handled the art on Joss Whedon's first comic book FRAY. Great writing and great art, but this is an issue that feels out of place. Its a set up issue for events that have already transpired in the series. It doesn't give any huge insights into the storyline that we need to move forward. It has the same feeling as WORLD WAR III or BATTLE FOR THE COWL. Its an unnecessary book even though it is a really good one.

YOUTUBERY!!

There's a new channel on YouTube which I gave a shout out to a while back: Black Box TV. They just posted their first full episode this week. I'm not putting the video up because I want everyone to go subscribe to it. Its cool, creepy stuff and the sort of thing that's been sorely lacking from YouTube.

MUSIC!!

Continuing our little Muppets themed tribute to Linda this week because I forgot to get a birthday card. Hopefully this'll prevent her from using her powers to reign much doom over me. Its like a pagan offering, only fuzzier.



That's all for Friday. Enjoy the weekend!

There goes my image, part 2

I've developed a fascination for Veggie Tales. It's clever, charming and the songs are very easy to get stuck in my head. I find myself popping in the DVDs been there nothing on interest in the PBS kid's broadcasting. I do enjoy me some Clifford the Big Red Dog.

I'd ask what the hell happened to me, but I already know the answer: doggone kids. It's gotten to the point that I get more excited to be TINY TITANS and SUPERGIRL: COSMIC ADVENTURES IN THE 8TH GRADE in my comics pick-up than JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA. Of course this may also be due to the kid's comics that companies are putting out now are just flat out fun.

BOOM! Studios is seeing a great deal of success with their new kids line. The main gripe I used to here about BOOM! was about the predominance of adult oriented titles from the company. This was true, they specialized in horror comics and the sci-fi books they had like their WARHAMMER series were for more mature readers. Now, along with the horror and sci-fi which are really solid stuff (I'm hooked on FALL OF CTHULU), we've got fun books from them like FARSCAPE and EUREKA! as well as great kids titles like THE INCREDIBLES, CARS and THE MUPPET SHOW. And they're selling.

Imagine that. Fun comics. And they're selling.

Turn off the TV and turn down the volume on your compute. Listen closely. You can actually hear it. Fanboys gnashing their teeth and shouting, "NO! Comics are for grown ups! The medium grew up! I want realism in my comics! I want dark! I want epic! I want dark and epic! Epic and dark! Those kids comics cannot be successful! Where's the grim? Where's the gritty? How dare they shine light into my parent's basement!"

Well, if those fanboys don't want the medium to die with them, then they should be dropping to their knees and thanking the companies for making kids comics, because new readers don't grow on trees. They grow up in our homes and have bright imaginations to be fueled and not tarnished with the grim and gritty garbage that is too often passed off as "realism".

I'm going to go read TINY TITANS with kids now. Hoppy the Marvel Bunny guests stars. YAY!

HIDE YOUR EYES!

Warning: the image below may be deemed inappropriate for some fanboys as it will cause them to flee for their bathrooms yelling for their mothers not to bother them for the next few minutes.



Yeah. That's the picture I mentioned. Maybe it was overstating things to say the heroes were "ogling" Supergirl's boobs. They're obviously studying them and marveling at how her Kryptonian spine must be much stronger than a normal human's.

Seriously, what the hell were they thinking running with this. I know the character and many other jailbait super-heroines have been objectified for years and years, but this is ridiculous. The current Supergirl has been struggling to be readable since her debut. This is not helping matters. There needs to be a modification to the costune that includes a whole shirt. Yeah, I know, what the hell an I thinking? Shouldn't I know by know that skin sells, even if it's underage?

It takes more than skin to make me a fan of a character. She's finally getting good character development and is being blessed with having talented writers handling her. Drop the objectification.