Comics

Wonder Woman 72 /  by MELINDA Schmidbauer

Wonder Woman is back home, and is trying to figure out what happened while she was gone.  Julia has rented her room out!  But this gives an excuse to give Diana's origin story again.  This stuck pretty closely to the origin I am familiar with, only adding the Diana Trevor factor.  (I really only know the TV version, with Steve crash landing on the island.  All my Wonder Woman knowledge was formed by Lynda Carter and Lionel Waggoner.) Diana Trevor saves Paradise Island from the hordes of Tantalus by crashing her plane into the mountain, and she dies. That is what leads to Diana's formation from clay, etc.  

So after Diana tells this story to Quinn, Julia tells her that Hippolyta has closed down the Themyscrian Embassy, and disappeared.  No one has been able to get in touch with her.  This amazes Diana, who proceeds to check with the Meyer Agency (this sounds vaguely familiar -- was that Myndi Mayer? Is this another editing issue...I think the MEYER in this issue is supposed to be MAYER, opps) and the bank.  No traces!  So off to check in with Etta and Steve.  She foils a robbery at the airport, and proceeds on to find Steve and Paradise Island.  She finds Steve, but the island is gone!  

I think I am ready to move on.  Tomorrow, Justice League Number 1 (1987).  

Wonder Woman 71 /  by MELINDA Schmidbauer

Okay, final issue of Diana IN SPACE!  All the Sangtee slaves are freed, and the prison planets un-prisoned.  Diana's ragtag crew is starting to break up.  Then Julia, the Daxamite, goes a little crazy and tries to kill one of the Sangtee.  This is when Diana realizes that Julia is speaking English!  It has been so long since Diana heard English that she didn't recognize it at first.  There's no explanation for why Julia knows English, but she does.  And she apparently also knows where Earth is, and is able to give that information to the scientist working on the transporter, so that Diana and Natasha can be sent home -- very Star Trek!  But before she goes, the girls all give her a big going-away thank you.  Party for Diana!  

Interspersed with all of this, we also see Julia Kapatelis writing a letter saying goodbye to Diana.  After months and months of Wonder Woman being missing, she has finally given up on her "second daughter" and accepted that she is dead.  Then, she answers the door and there is Diana!  Happy tears ensue. 

I would guess the next issues will deal with Diana trying to find out why Asquith Randolph tried to get rid of her.  It is implied in this issue that he took her place as a hero, so that may be reason enough, but will Diana have her revenge?  Maybe I'll read a few more issues and find out.

We're only getting two new comics this week, so I will probably continue to read a Wonder Woman or two, before moving on to JLI.  Mark has talked me into reading the first three years of that, so there's a month of posts!  Hmmmm.  Justice League #1, 1987 and JLA #1 2011, both in the same week for me.

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors 13 /  by MELINDA Schmidbauer

Now, a brief break from Wonder Woman...

If you listen to our podcast, you may know that my favorite Green Lantern is Guy Gardner.  But not the Guy Gardner usually seen in Emerald Warriors.  That guy is a serious GL, on Oa, working with a bunch of GL's of other worlds, protecting the universe or the Guardians.  I think Guy is at his best when he is interacting with non-Green Lantern heroes.  This issue of Emerald Warriors FINALLY brings guy back to Earth from Oa, and teams him with his "frenemy" Batman to solve a murder on the ISS.  

Guy, of course, is NOT the World's Greatest Detective.  But he tries.  He questions the other astronauts aboard the space station while Batman goes and does detecting.  Guy is guy, and tries to find various motives (jealousy, mostly) for the murder.  Of course, though, Batman figures out what happened, but that gives Guy his time to shine by catching the bad guy and saving the space station and Opal City from certain death.  Go Guy!  

Maybe I am a bit of a xenophobe, but I really prefer stories set on Earth.  I am looking forward to the New 53 version of JLI, including Guy, and hope to see some "interaction" with him and Ice.  Please, give me witty badinage!  

Well, tomorrow's the big day?  Are you going to the comic shop at midnight?  (Or maybe noon, when our LCS actually opens?)

Wonder Woman 70 /  by MELINDA Schmidbauer

So, in this issue, Diana confronts the Sangtee Emperor, finds out he is really a she, and  -- presto -- the now-Empress will release the slaves and start the Sangtee people on the road to integration of the sexes. 

Wait a minute, who are the Sangtee?  In the first issue of their captivity, Diana and Natasha learn that the race of people who make up the empire that runs the prison planet is the Kreel.  Now, though they are being referred to as the Sangtee.   I am so confused.   No wonder continuity becomes an issue, when an editing error like that can slip through.  

At any rate, Diana gets her costume and accessories back,  as her captors did keep them.  So now, I expect the next issue will deal with Diana getting home.  I would say this came to rather an abrupt end; and no real Wonder Woman fighting action at all.  We did see the Daxamite wrecking a few things, but all Diana did was catch an advisor with her lasso.  

I am glad that I have only a couple more issues of this Wonder Woman sequence.  I am looking forward to pulling out the old JLI issues on Kooey Kooey Kooey!

Wonder Woman 69 /  by MELINDA Schmidbauer

My first impression, looking at this cover, was that Diana had cut her hair short.  But then I saw the pony-tail holder.  Not sure Dina should have a pony-tail.  But that is more practical to fight with than loose hair that would fly in your face.  But I really think she should have cut it short, like Natasha's.

Exposition, exposition, exposition.  I am not sure the purpose of telling the first part of this in an expositive flashback by a Kreel official.  Why not just tell the story?  I guess it's a convenient way to skip through six months.  So, we learn that Diana and her band of former slaves are now acting as pirates, catching the Kreel ships and adding their cargos - more women - to the fighting force.  They are training and waiting for the right time to focus an attack on the Emperor.  Natasha continues to entertain with magic tricks, while Diana lounges around on a big bean-bag chair and looks like Harry Mudd with breasts.  I am not very fond of the  overcoat they've put her in...and I think she looks much better on the cover than inside the book.  

And Diana has her team of scientists (amazing what you get with a load of slaves and an asteroid) working on a new lasso, which answers one of my questions from earlier.  They haven't quite got it yet, though.

And now we've reached the climax of the story.  Diana has gotten the Daxamite, now called Julia, to team up with their pirate band, and Diana takes the fight to the Emperor, appearing as a giant head to challenge him. Go to it, great and powerful Diana!

Wonder Woman 68 /  by MELINDA Schmidbauer

A Comic a Day continues...

Wonder Woman is now a "PRISONER OF A SAVAGE PLANET!"  Poor Diana, with only rags held together by rope to wear. (I like the cover with her still wearing her tiara.  I guess she has to wear it on the cover, to show who she is...inside she only has the grey sweatband of prisonerhood.) 

Our story starts off with Natasha narrating.  It has been three long months of slavery.  Diana is a beacon of hope in the otherwise despairing camp.  She protects the weak, and does more than her share of work.  She and Natasha gradually learn the camp pidgin language, and determine that their captors are the Kreel, an alien race that only has one sex; then every century they change sexes.  This explains why they are only keeping women in the slave camp; they hate women when they are men.  Huh?  That didn't make a lot of sense to me.  And it seems like a lot of work to run a whole planet prison camp just because you hate women.  Maybe it makes sense to the Kreel.  We also learn that there is a Daxamite being held in special captivity on the planet.  How convenient!

So, through a series of serendipitious events, Diana and a small group are able to commandeer a ship, rescue the Daxamite and make their way off planet.  Diana now plans to take down the Kreel empire.  She has four issues to do so!  We'll see how that works out.

There was one thought I had as I was reading this story (related to Diana's tiara, see how I am tying this in...).  Diana's lasso, and presumably the other accoutrements of her Wonder Woman persona like the bracelets, were with her in the original spaceship.  How will she get them back?  Did the Kreel realize their importance and take them?  Or are they still floating around in the first ship?  I want to know!

And...  an ad for DOOMSDAY!  So maybe that's why Superman can't come help Diana now?  

 

Wonder Woman 67! /  by MELINDA Schmidbauer

The continuing saga of Diana and Natasha in SPACE!

The girls are passing time in space with magic tricks and super-exercising.  There's lots of "I am sure we are going to die." and "No, we're going to make it." exchanges.  Diana makes a space walk to boost their distress signal.  It's been two weeks and they have another week of air and food.  BORING!  No, it's about what you'd expect to see if someone were on a really long space flight.  

But eventually their ship is captured by some sort of an alien vessel, and our girls are captured to be used as slave labor on an unknown planet with slaves of many worlds.  Poor Diana is beaten badly, and the two are forced to work the mines and fight their fellow inmates for food.  At the end, our Amazon princess comments that their captors made one mistake..."They let me live."

Now, all through reading this book, I thought to myself, why did they even bother with this ship floating in space for two (relatively) weak women.  It seems to me that would be more trouble than they were worth.  But maybe we'll find out differently in the next exciting installment.

The thing I found more interesting in reading this book were the ads!  This book is from 1992, which in the general scheme of things is not that long ago.  But you realize how quickly the video game industry progressed when you see the ads for Sega Genesis games (Super High Impact! Evander Holyfield's Real Deal Boxing!).  The screen shots included with these ads just seem cute now, but how cutting edge where they then?  

Then, oh, the joy.  Those little ads for "Build your own personal jet-pack" and "Muscles? in 7 days."  It really made me want to send in my $19.95 for plans to build the jet-pack.  I thought these ads were gone with the Silver Age.  

Wonder Woman 66 /  by MELINDA Schmidbauer

Day 4!  

Today I read the original printing of the story from the recent Wonder Woman Retroactive, 1990's.  (By the way, the links I use to comics all point to specific issue on comixology.com.   Mark uses that site to set up his pull-list with our LCS, Packrat Comics.)  I wanted to know what happened to Wonder Woman after she is marooned in space with the cosmonaut Natasha Terranova -- although with a name like Terranova, one almost suspects that we will see her marooned on another planet, trying to start an Earth colony, no?  

This story is near the start of the William Messner-Loebs run on Wonder Woman.  I only know that because the letter columns writers refer to the change of creative team.  Diana is apparently more confident and sure of herself in the "man's world."  I won't comment on this, since I didn't read the previous issues, but Diana sure seems confident, although this book starts with a scene I don't think we'd see in a Wonder Woman comic today...Diana getting her hair done!

So Diana has to go into space to save this cosmonaut, who is running out of air.  Why can't Superman, or one of the other space-capable superheroes go?  (I thought Diana was space-capable.  Not this one, I guess.)  Because they are all off somewhere else, conveniently.  While trying to get back into the atmosphere, a mysterious explosion sends them off into the universe.  They don't know where they are or how they got there.  What will happen?  Tune in for the next issue...

I did like this story.  I love when writers can make the normal, everyday interactions of superheroes seem normal and everyday!  The hairdresser scene was fun.  Watching Diana and Natasha bond over magic was fun.  There was some superhero stuff, and the golden lasso got some play, but Diana was basically a regular person interacting with other regular people.  She just happens to be superstrong and can fly.

I'll move to Wonder Woman 67 tomorrow.  I am sure Diana and Natasha won't be stranded in the spaceship very long!

A Comic a Day /  by MELINDA Schmidbauer

I am going to read and post about a comic every day for a year.  Isn't that the current "in" thing?  Doing something every day for a year? I figure reading a comic is pretty easy (easier than cooking French cuisine).  Right now, I am finishing up the comics released last Wednesday, some of which Mark and I already discussed on this week's "How I Got My Wife To Read Comics."  But I still have a few I can comment on here.  

Today's comic is Green Lantern Corps 63.  I really don't like the Green Lanterns very much.  I like Hal Jordan.  I like John Stewart.  I love Guy Gardner (he's my favorite Green Lantern).  But I really dislike the Green Lanterns as a group, and this book really highlights why.  The chapers seem disjointed, and touch on the Alpha Lanterns, Lantern/Guardian mistrust, and species tension within the Guardians.  But in spite of all this, the Lanterns can pull together?  I dont buy it.  

I really disliked the concept of the Alpha Lanterns from the time DC introduced them.  They are like Internal Affairs on any cop show that's ever been on.  They made these Alpha Lanterns out of some really good characters, essentially removing all the things about them that were interesting or different.  And now we have these roboticized Lanterns that are going to try to fit back in?  Meh.

And I am not sure why the Guardians even have to be there for the Green Lanterns to exist.  Now that the Crayola Lanterns have appeared, and they don't have short, primary color Guardians to lead them, why do the Green Lanterns need the Guardians.  Throw them over, I say!  

Then there is the infighting between the Green Lanterns.  All of these guys are supposed to be without fear, but it seems to me that all this species/planet/racial hatred is really about fear.  Fear of the other...and in this issue, fear of the human Lanterns taking over the Corps.  And none of them really give us any reason to understand why they dislike/hate/fear the human Lanterns.  It is a very superficial conflict, and as the reader, I don't understand why it is happening.  If they want me to be interested, let me get to know why Palaqua and Turytt and why they object to Kyle.  And don't always make the "haters" the huge, hulking stereotypical racists.  

There are going to be four Green Lantern books once the New 52 hits, and the Green Lantern Corps is supposed to focus on Guy and John, so I will give it a try.  But if it is going to continue on with these conflicts between the Green Lanterns, I'd like it to be more meaningful, and less superficial, by having it involve real characters rather than the odd alien they decide to throw in.  Maybe Gail Simone should write this for a while...

San Diego Comic Con /  by MELINDA Schmidbauer

I just read that tickets for SDCC 2011 have already sold out (in seven hours)!  SDCC really isn't a comics convention anymore.  It really is an "all-media" event.  It is too bad that that the people who really are interested in the comics part of the event aren't able to attend, crowded out by the movie, television, and press people who aren't (weren't?) really the target audience of the con.  Maybe everyone who attends should be required to show proof of at least once comic book purchase that year.  Boost up the comics industry a little.  

That being said, I am glad we got to attend.  But as I said then, and say now, I think once is enough.  

It's very crowded, people will grab anything that is free, and the level of noise and congestion on the floor made it almost impossible to talk to anyone.  

 

Falling Behind /  by MELINDA Schmidbauer

Once again I have fallen behind on comics. My New Year's resolution lasted until I went away for a week, and then I got back to two weeks worth of comics, plus problems with the website and podcast posting.

However, in the last two days I have read 31 comics, and only have 12 more to read before Wednesday, when the new ones come in.

What did I like in the last two weeks? As always, Terry Moore's Echo continues to delight. I love this story, which has much more action than SIP, but maintains the characterization and relationship building of it.

The Question and Manhunter. These two strong female superheroes (who took over from male predecessors) both have good stories, with the "superhero" and "regular person" sides balancing out -- sometimes.

The Vertigo titles I have read so far this month have also been great. Sweet Tooth is a little weird, but the story is moving along well; Cinderella is cute, and House of Mystery is mysterious.

What I didn't like quite so much? Well, I was confused by Teen Titans. Connor is back, but it seems like Cassie doesn't know it. I thought she did, but this issue made it seem like she didn't. And how does this tie in with the Milestone title that just came out? I am confused.

 

Umbrella Academy: Dallas /  by MELINDA Schmidbauer

I read all six issues of this story arc today. For anyone who doesn't know, the story is written by Gerard Way, of the band "My Chemical Romance." The first story arc won an Eisner award in 2008.

I have to say that it really makes a difference reading the stories in one sitting. The first arc I read pretty much as the issues came out, and I was so confused. I couldn't remember what happened from one issue to the next (and since Mark bags and boards what I've read fairly regularly, it is hard to go back). So, this series, I held on to the issues until they were all out.

Anyway, the story of the special children of the Umbrella Academy filled in a lot of question marks about what happened to Number 5 when he disappeared. We continue to learn more about each sibling, and what they can do. The story refers to events in the first series, so readers should start with Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite.

It is a very satisfying story, and I would read future releases; but I guess I'd much rather wait for the graphic novel collection than read individual issues.

How I Read Comics /  by MELINDA Schmidbauer

Mark generally picks up the comics on Wednesday or Thursday. Sometimes even on Friday. Mark reads the comics first, and he has a particular order. Usually it is DC comics first, then Vertigo, then the independents. When he gets done with a comic, he puts it in the pile for me to read.

I end up reading in a haphazard order, depending upon what day it is, and what Mark wants to talk about on How I Got My Wife To Read Comics. I generally skip any of the Simpsons/Futurama comics, and the horrible Army@Love (is that still going on?), and a couple others. And generally the shorter series (less than six issues) collect in my pile until the series is complete. Right now, The second series of Umbrella Academy is waiting at the bottom of my pile...

So I have comics as new as this week, and as old as six months, in my TBR pile. This can drive Mark mad; and when I go to the comic book store, I never know for sure what we have gotten the previous week!

Maybe I can get into the habit of being caught up this summer.

Secret Si /  by MELINDA Schmidbauer

One of our Facebook member posted that Secret Six was rapidly becoming one of his favorite comics. After this latest issue, I am tending to agree with this. Issue 9, a tie-in to "Battle for the Cowl" features the three of the Secret Six thwarting a kidnapping in Gotham. Ragdoll dressed as Robin and trying to quip like the '60s TV version of same was simply priceless. At the same time, Bane and Catman striving to be more like Batman, in spite of their more lethal tendencies, shows that these "villians" are not the typical one-dimensional Gotham villain.

Catman's line "One saves a terrorist, one kills a terrorist. Who did more for the world in the end?" strikes a note that Mark and I have talked about before. Wouldn't Gotham be better off it the Joker was killed? But that crosses a line. In the DC Universe, maybe that is the line that separates the hero from the villian.

 

 

What Have You Read Lately? /  by MELINDA Schmidbauer

This week, I only read the comics Mark gave me for the podcast. Well, not entirely true. Early this week, I caught up on Trinity. There are only three issues left, due in the next three weeks. I won’t be sad when this is over. I imagine it will be like most other limited series (even though it had 53 issues), and it will wrap everything up in the last five pages of issue 52. In a series this long, I think that the whole last issue should just be tying up loose ends -- resolution should have be done by issue 51. Just my opinion. What do you think of Trinity? Discuss on our Facebook page!

Lax, Lazy, Lethargic /  by MELINDA Schmidbauer

I haven’t posted anything for a while. I was in the last two weeks of a class I was taking, along with working LOTS of days. Those are my excuses for only reading the comic books that Mark wanted to talk about for each week’s podcast. Not very good ones, since I have been reading a lot of other stuff!

Mark is really excited about the Blackest Night Green Lantern event coming up. Me, not so much. I find I am usually disappointed in the “event” comics. So it was quite a refreshing experience to see Geoff John’s column in the Free Comic Book Day GL that he didn’t think it would happen with this one. He will really try to make it stay on track, and not be late. One can only hope.

The following is a list from Wikipedia on all the titles in the event:

Prelude to Blackest Night

* Blackest Night #0 (June 2009)
* "Agent Orange" - Green Lantern vol. 4, #39-42 (May - July 2009)
* "Emerald Eclipse" - Green Lantern Corps vol. 2, #33-37 (April - August 2009)

Blackest Night

* Blackest Night #1-8 (September 2009 - April 2010)
* Green Lantern vol. 4, #43-47 (September - December 2009)
* Green Lantern Corps vol. 2, #38-41 (September - December 2009)
* The Titans vol. 2, #15 (September 2009)
* Blackest Night: Tales Of The Corps #1-3 (September 2009)
* Blackest Night: Batman #1-3 (October - December 2009)
* Blackest Night: Superman #1-3 (October - December 2009)
* Blackest Night: Titans #1-3 (October - December 2009)
* Blackest Night: Wonder Woman

I’m not sure how accurate this is, but with that many titles, I wonder if the writers will really be able to maintain the continuity. If I had my way, I would wait and read all of them at once, but Mark would NOT like that! I expect we’ll be talking about this AT LENGTH in the podcast.

On another note, I am really looking forward to the Wednesday Comics, as well as The Unwritten.

And finally, here’s another recommendation for getting your wife to read comics. I am rereading (yes, even though I still have new ones to read!) Y: The Last Man. The entire series was very good, but the first few story arcs were excellent. No superheros, no special powers. Just a world of women, and one man...

Home Again /  by MELINDA Schmidbauer

Boy, it’s been a while since I posted. I was away for Easter (without Mark -- he had to stay home), and I still haven’t figured out how to do my blog on the road. That is one of the first things I am going to work on when I am out of school this summer!

So, I went to visit the family for Easter. I was talking to my nephew, Ben. He was saying how he was looking for a new copy of Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns, the same printing his mom had spilled coffee on way back when. Way back when I had given him a copy, apparently when he was about 10.

I remember reading it back then. I wasn’t a regular comics reader by any stretch of the imagination, but for some reason, I got this book.

Coincidentally, shortly after Ben and I were talking about this (and I was thinking about how totally inappropriate this would have been for a 10 year old), Mark and I watched this week’s episode of the Big Bang Theory. Penny goes with the guys to the comic book store to pick out something for her nephew. The store owner recommends Hellblazer. So, I don’t feel so bad about my choice. Isn’t any Batman better than a smoking, drinking, hanging out with demons magician?

 

Old Comics for a New Generation /  by MELINDA Schmidbauer

Remember those old comics I got for crafting? I took several issues
up to my nephew Joel, who is in the second grade. A Wolverine, an issue of
Marvel Universe, the issue where Clark tells Lois he is Superman --

 

 


very appropriate issues for an 8-year-old boy (all approved by the Comics Code!). And it was wonderful.

He loved those comics. I can see how Mark must have been when he was
8 and poring over an issue of Justice League or Superman. It really
is too bad that comics are too expensive for most kids today. So,
maybe the option is to give them the old comics, that you can buy for
a quarter. They don't have to keep those pristine in bags and boards.
They can just enjoy them.