Wow. Wow. Wow! "Catwoman: Lonely City" is a comic I didn't even know I wanted. What a refreshing look at aging superheroes. Cliff Chiang writes, draws, colors and letters an amazing story of a middle-aged Selina Kyle fresh out of prison. I feel every sore muscle, all the back aches, knee pain and out of breath moments our protagonist goes through. Getting old is weird. Your body does weird things and Chiang is fantastic at capturing this in both a realistic and comedic and fun way as well as telling a solid story. This is a DC Black Label comic. I'm not sure how many we get. I have the first two and I know there is another coming in March 2022. If you like Catwoman or just want to read a really good story with a character you might identify with if your in your 40s, like I am, I highly recommend it. The art is beautiful, the colors just exquisite and the story is compelling. Selina really is front and center here. Go grab them at your local comics shop today!
Dark Knights of Steel is a Medieval/Fantasy take of the Superman/Batman storyline. It's fun. I'm a King Arthur junkie and swords & sorcery fan, so this is right up my alley. I might spoil some things so if you haven't read it yet or don't want to be spoiled, just know, I recommend it for the fun take on the characters if you like sword & sorcery stuff and Superman/Batman comics. You can leave now.
Okay, for those of you still here, let's look at it a little more. First off, the pod that crashed didn't land in Kansas. Nope. It landed in a grassy open field in what appears to be medieval England or Wales or somewhere similar. Inside the pod, we find more than just Kal-El. In fact, Kal-El hasn't officially been born yet, but he will be, moments after the pod crashes.
We skip ahead 19 years and we find young Kal-El and his bodyguard, head knight, Bruce arguing with him to stay put as he assesses a possible threat. There's definitely a bit of a homo-erotic undertone with these two, but I mean, Arthur & Lancelot, anyone? Knights and pirates, Amiright? There's also a brotherhood, brothers thing. So, yeah, whichever. Bruce was apparently adopted by Kal's kingdom after the death of his family. Anyhoo, we run into quite a few of our fellow Justice Leaguers, except here, they are all looked at as threats to Kal-El by Bruce & he is determined to root them all out and either kill them or capture them. Except Harley, the court Jester and Alfred, the sage.
In the first issue we get Black Canary, Green Arrow, in a very Robin Hood like fashion and Green Lantern. In the second issue, we get even more exciting twists on characters as we are introduced to the rival kingdom run by Black Lightning and his daughters Anissa and Jennifer and son Jacob. Constantine also makes an appearance. Amanda Waller is in the mix and we find ourselves on another island with another kingdom. Amazon island. Lois Lane has come to inform Hippolyta of what has transpired in Kal-El's kingdom and she sends her off to find Wonder Woman and this world's version of Supergirl, Zala Jor-El.
Now, I want to pause her a moment. Mainly, because I find this hilarious. Zala is clearly Kara and the only character in the whole realm that does not have her original character name. There is clearly only one reason for this. She's queer. Wonder Woman is her girlfriend. As we have learned, multiple times over, IF Kara is used in any "Elseworld" or non-Prime world and even has the hint of queerness about her, they change her name. Kara Starikov, anyone? It has happened multiple times. It is absolutely absurd. Kara Zor-El is very queer. Why DC Comics won't let her be is a mystery. Is it creator issues? Her link to their Big guy? Fear? Homophobia? Idiocy? 40 year old white dude readers that love that virginal teenager purity? I don't know, but it has almost become a running gag at this point. I wish they'd just let her be queer, but that's a whole other post for another time. This Kara, er, um, Zala is queer. Hooray! Funny, lately Wonder Woman also only seems to be queer in non-Prime storylines, despite the contrary. At least she gets to keep her name.
Zala leaves Amazon Island to exact revenge because she knows her brother, Kal-El, won't. Yeah, they are brother and sister rather than cousins in this timeline. What has transpired and how Kara, er, um, Zala responds, it seems, will lead to war.
And that's where we leave off at the end of issue 2.
Again, it's fun. Bruce's paranoia is used quite well here, aliens or people with powers vs. people without powers is a theme, representation is very visible and I am excited to see where we go. It's good storytelling. The art is gorgeous. I mean, Yasmine Putri's pencils are glorious and the colors by Arif Prianto complement them perfectly. Tom Taylor just writes good stories, ya'll. So, yeah, looking forward to issue 3. This is a limited series. Unlike Tom King's Supergirl, DC gave Tom Taylor a full 12 issues to flesh out his tale.
It's no secret that I love this run of Supergirl. It's all over my various social media sites. I might have even mentioned it here. (I did.) This week brought us to issue 6 of an 8 issue series by Tom King with art by Bilquis Evely and colors by Mat Lopes.
Issue 6 is one of the issues I've been eagerly awaiting. In the 60 years of Supergirl comics, we have never really gotten Kara's perspective on what happened in those last hours of Krypton, then the desperate scramble to protect the survivors from radiation (kryptonite poisoning) and the last hours of Argo City. We always skip that part and go to Earth and fast forward to her pretty little smiling face full of hope.
Not this time. While we don't get it straight from Kara, we do get a very good retelling of the tale from her traveling companion, Ruthye as we continue our journey to find and kill Krem. It's not as long and as detailed as it could be, (thanks DC, for forcing Tom to whittle it down to 8 from 12 issues, asshats) but it's powerful and it's gut-wrentching and it's one of the main reasons I've loved Supergirl these last 6 years. It's the thing that drew me to her, initially due to Season one of Supergirl on CBS, where they first made me aware of it, but on a deeper level by reading her comics, from her very first appearance to this comic. I haven't read them all yet, a ton of them, but not all, but I can tell you this, Tom King and I saw the same things. The same strengths. The same amazing woman under all the pretty skirts, sexualized teenager variations, the forced smiles and virginal white savior bullshit that has plagued Supergirl on and off for years. This kid has been through it. Over and over again. She's tough. She never gives up. Plus, she's smart. One of the smartest characters in DC. I love that Tom keeps reminding us of this. This character has amazing potential and DC has just largely ignored it.
We have two issues to go. I'm very interested in how he's going to wrap this up. Who she's going to be after this. I hope DC doesn't just ignore this run and go back to the up skirt sexualized virginal teenager with doe eyes full of hope and let's her be who she has always been underneath. One of the strongest, most powerful, full of potential heroes in their hands. Let women write her. Let Tom King write more of her. Let Tom Taylor write more of her. Let her be a little angry and anti-social and messy. She would be and it has been explained to you why. I'd love to see her grow into the Kara that Tom Taylor wrote in the one-shot story in "Nuclear Winter". It was my favorite Supergirl story before "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow". "Being Super" is another favorite. These all work together.
If you've never read a Supergirl story, I 100% encourage you to pick up all three of these Supergirl stories, but definitely Tom King's "Woman of Tomorrow".
Looking for a great book to start your tween or teen kids on in order to share your love of comics? I have a suggestion. Tom Taylor's first addition to the Nightwing stories.
Most of you know who Nightwing is. Dick Grayson. The first Robin, the boy wonder. Tom Taylor really hits you in the feels with this run and in my opinion, this is a great entry book for young tween or teen boys or girls. Barbara Gordon is in this run, as well as an adorable rescue puppy.
I won't lie, a few of these pages made me cry. Tom Taylor really knows how to write emotional dialogue and the fantastic art in the book by Bruno Redondo just adds the exact right atmosphere for serious feels. There's some great ethical and moral choices in this book as well. It's a perfect stocking stuffer. Drop by your local comics shop & pick up a copy.
"World of Krypton" takes place before the destruction of Krypton and on the day that Zor-El and Lara are introducing Kara to their world. There are 3 covers for the first issue. One featuring Zor-El and Lara, one with baby Kara and the very rare one featuring Kelex.
The comic is a six-part mini-series written by Robert Venditti with art by Michael Avon Oeming. I'm not thrilled with the art style, but it works. The comic is a reboot of an old title that was the basis of the SyFy TV series "Krpton" and unlike its predecessor, seems to follow Zor-El, Kara's father, rather than Kal-El's father Jor-El.
It was bit of a slow start for me & seemed to focus on the politics of the time. We did get glances of the planet and some of the flora and fauna. Hopefully we'll get more. Kara is a baby here and Krypton didn't explode until she was older, depending on which canon we're playing with here. I hope we get to see her explore her planet and wonder at the marvel of it while also watching the meltdown of the council and ultimate failure to save the planet. Not only would it be more impactful, it would help us see the loss through Kara's eyes. The last survivor of a lost culture.
I will pick up number two and as long as we get more Kara, I'll keep picking them up. I'd recommend it for anyone who likes to follow anything new with Kara Zor-El or loves Kryptonian history, otherwise it's probably a skip. I'll keep you informed.
I picked this one up because it had Power Girl in it. And Red Tornado. I've always loved Red Tornado.
Mark Russell is the writer with artist Steve Lieber & colored by Dave Stewart.
I really enjoyed the art & was drawn in well with the storytelling. I was planning on waiting for the trade paperback to finish this one, but the story was compelling enough to make me want more. I'll probably grab issue 2.
Okay, I'm going to spoil some things, so stop reading now if you want to read it.
****SPOILERS****
The story starts by giving us a rundown of what your 3rd or 4th tier heroes do to pay the bills. Which is basically anything but sex work. Birthday parties, private security, etc. It's called "Heroz4U" We cut to some nursing home/private care facility workers deciding to drop some dude off at the place.
This is the real heart of the story. No one wants this guy. Not even, apparently, his wife. We figure this out when Red Tornado takes him to his last known address & she pretends not to know him.
We learn that he is the old hero Blockbuster & that he's had a few too many blows to the head. Red Tornado gets him settled in at "Heroz4U" headquarters on the pull out couch. We also learn just how much Red Tornado depends on this job.
Our "villain" turns out to be one of our heroes. Someone who has given up the good fight & decided to go all in for capitalism. Power Girl. There's no place for empathy in capitalism. She throws Red Tornado under the bus to "the board". They suggest she keep an eye on him & report back to them. She's making a play to takeover.
I admit, I wasn't happy about Power Girl being the "bad guy", but it is interesting to see them doing something different with her. And ultimately, I hope she learns a good lesson & sees the error of her ways. I'm already slightly invested.
Great job, guys.
If you want something different but with characters you enjoy, I recommend it. I'm excited to see where they go.
I can't even begin to do this man justice with my small words. George Perez just announced he has stage 3 cancer and has a max of 6 months to a year left. I'm mad and sad. F*ck cancer, man.
George Perez is one of the greatest. He posted to facebook here: George Perez
T & I were lucky enough to meet him. He was so incredibly warm & friendly. Just a happy human being that radiated his love of comics. T had brought some old Marvel cards she had and I brought my Wonder Woman 1-5. When he got to her cards he lit up even more and was so excited. She brought a huge stack and he started signing them all. He said he hadn't ever actually seen them in person and really looked at each one. It was so much fun going through them with him. He thanked her so much for bringing them. It was a truly amazing moment with the legend.
I'm glad he knows how much we all love him & I'm glad we get time to tell him again. So much of what you see on the screen today in Superhero movies & tv is because of George. He helped lots of people that probably wouldn't have been able to break in get their start in comics and the whole industry is better for him being here.
I wish you nothing but peace, strength & calm as you bravely begin you final journey, sir. You are loved.
You can fit exactly two reindeer in the freight elevator. Yep, two reindeer.
Meet Comet. He put in a good word for me with Santa.
I cannot tell you how much I love my job. When a Monday morning consists of figuring out how to get two reindeer from the Mammal Collection down to the gallery, you know it's a good day. LOL.
I have a lofty goal of reviewing comics each week on New Comic Book Day. However, my shop doesn't open on Tuesdays, which is when DC drops new books each week, so I have to wait until Wednesday. No big deal, other than avoiding spoilers for an entire day. Now, being a HUGE Supergirl fan, I will most assuredly be reviewing anything with Kara Zor-El or any other version of Supergirl. I've already seen two mentions of her this week alone.
She will be making an appearance in Tom Taylor's "Dark Knights of Steel". That's all I'm saying. It was spoiled for me, but I'm not spoiling it for you. If you're a Supercorp fan though, you might consider going out and grabbing issue 1 & 2. Tom's one of my top writers currently. I'm reading his Superman run as well as his Nightwing run. Both are excellently written and heartfelt. Everything Superhero comics should be. I love how he's changing what it means to be a Superhero with this second generation. Evolution of the genre is something the comics industry has needed and this guy is nailing it.
Dark Knights of Steel issue one was fantastic. I'm not going to spoil it here, even though it's been out for a month, because I think you Supergirl fans might go get it this week, but I will tell you it was a fun "elseworld" type beginning. We're in Medieval times, Kal-El's pod crashed near a castle & you never know who's going to show up where & in what context. If you like King Arthur or Robin Hood or sword swinging knights and you like superheroes, this book is for you. Go get it.
Kara Zor-El is also supposed to pop up in the new book "World of Krypton" issue 1. It also comes out today. If you love Krypton or have ever wanted to learn more about Krypton, you might want to check this out. I'm going to. I'll give you more on the book later this week after I've read it. Kara does seem to be a fairly important part of the book, though.
I like that DC seems to be embracing Kara Zor-El more. She's a great character with a super interesting past (pun intended) and so much trauma and hope and interesting things to explore. Past, present & future. While "World of Krypton" seems like a place we might get to see a young Kara growing up, which oddly enough in 60 years we NEVER have. Tom King's run explores Kara's present/future.
Tom King's "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow" is so much of what I've wanted to see of Kara Zor-El. The trauma, the fight, the inability to give up no matter the odds. Stripping away the male gaze and the sexed up teenager in a short skirt that's always portrayed as some sort of perfect virginal vessel of hope & goodness. An object, rather than a multi-layered being with emotions & imperfections & bad days. Having Bilquis Evely on the pencils really made sure of that. We get one of the most beautiful depictions of Kara Zor-El that I have ever seen. Mat Lopes colors just make things even more stunning.
There's a lot of people that don't like this version of Supergirl. I really don't know how you couldn't, but hey, to each their own. I'm more than happy to see her elevated beyond fap material for 40 year old men. Some argue about her swearing. A being as intelligent as Kara Zor-El would swear. There are scientific studies out there about swearing & intelligence. Just google it.
It's a character driven story about boundaries, trauma, aloneness and personal morals. Kara is one of the only (if not only) character in all of comics that has lost everything. Everything. Her loved ones, her friends, her home, her planet, her culture, her language, her gods, her technology, her way of life. Kal-El maybe a Kryptonian by DNA, but Kara Zor-El is really the last survivor of that culture. That world. Kal-El is a human. An Earthing in every way except his DNA. DC has sat on this character for far too long & I am really happy to see her evolving into someone women and young girls can connect with on a deeper level, rather than just being the same unsure sexualized teenager in a short skirt.
"Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow" is an 8 book run and issue 6 will be the next issue out in either January or February, possibly the 21st of December if the paper shortage has been fixed & the release dates are to be believed. There should be a nice Hardback edition planned as the series ends that I would guess would be out late spring or early summer, unless DC decides to skip the usual fancy hardback. Tom King usually gets 12 books in a series and was very upfront about how DC didn't feel Supergirl warranted his usual 12 and only gave him 8, so it's possibly they'll just go straight to trade paperback. I certainly hope not because despite collecting every cover of every issue, I also plan on buying that hardback. Do you hear me, DC?
All of this just to let you know that this space will be reviewing comics from now on. Weekly, if I don't utterly fail & fall into a hole of self-loathing laziness. This week, "Dark Knights of Steel" and "World of Krypton". Stay tuned.
Trying to get everything working on the blog here. I've updated the Art links. They should all link to the artist mentioned. If you come across one that doesn't, please let me know. I will be adding artists over the next few weeks/months.
Fandoms are cool. Especially really active ones that help boost causes. I was and still am active in the Xena fandom. It was my second fandom. Beauty and the Beast from CBS 1987 with Ron Perlman & Linda Hamilton was my first. I was very active in that one as well. I used to get the International Beauty and the Beast fan zine. I even got some art in it.
With Xena, most of what I did was online. I even did some illustrations for the virtual 7th Season. I run the Netforum over on Tumblr now.
The Supercorp fandom reminds me of the Xenite fandom. Especially when it comes to the art and fanfic and charity. The very last Supercorp zine just opened submissions. Check it out here:
I have never seen a more talented pool of artists and writers in a fandom and we had a ton in Xena. I'm always blown away. I'll be adding artists from this fandom to the artist list over to the right. There's a few over there now. They do way more than fan art. I mean, fan art is real art, but they get paid to do art as well. Many have stores. Need a cool gift for a fan? Art is always a cool gift.
The best thing about this zine is that all the profits go to charity.
These charities:
Trevor Project, the Transgender Law Center, and Futures Without Violence
The zine isn't available for purchase yet. I'll let you know when. If you want to give submitting art or a story a shot though, go for it. I'm going to.
I love this fandom and I hope we are still around to celebrate our 25th like Xena.
It's no secret I was/am a huge Supergirl fan. I mean, I cosplay her for goodness sake. I was also a big Supercorp shipper while watching the CW Supergirl show. So much so that I made a fan video. Here ya go, kids.
Hey, Star Wars: Rogue One fans, there's a limited edition K2-S0 ornament at Hallmark. It's pretty sweet, too. Really heavy though. Hang it on a sturdy branch.
Only one per customer and you can't get it online.
I'm heading to Hallmark after work today to grab mine.
Happy Feast Day. It used to be Thanksgiving and then COVID hit. Last year was the first year I did not spend Thanksgiving with people I was related to. I learned things. Lots of things. About myself, about holidays, about happiness and freedom and about boundaries. You could say I was incredible thankful for the time to myself. To think. This year was the same. Maybe less insightful, but incredibly relaxing. Happy. Joyous, even.
My lovely lady made us a 10lb. organic free range turkey. It was perfect. Delicious. More food than two people could possibly need, but that's okay. No guilt, no shame. We ate, we laughed, we loved. We ate turkey for 4 days. All of it. None wasted. Even if we hadn't been able to eat it all, it's okay. For the first time in our 25 years, we have room to breathe financially. It could change any second. So, we celebrated. But without that fear that we could lose it all any second. We just relaxed.
We talk openly in my house about "poverty mentality" these days. It has caused us so much stress & harm, but we are learning to leave it behind. What is "Poverty Mentality"? It's a complicated way of thinking and living due to living or being raised in poverty. It was passed down to me and due to the lack of preparation before, during and after college, as well as how I was raised, it continued into my adult life for far too long. You keep everything. Cluttering your spaces. You keep repairing things rather than replacing them, even if the repairs aren't really fixing it. More like just sticking a band-aid on it. You find the best "deal", even if quality is lacking. a $200 mattress as opposed to a $800 mattress. Sure, you saved some $$$ but your in constant pain & never get a good night's rest.
You hoard food. Canned food. High salt food. Sugary food. Full of preservatives. Good food spoils too fast.
You don't go to the doctor or dentist unless it is 100% necessary. Basically, unless you think you are dying. You scrimp & save. You fear losing everything, constantly. That fear drives your choices. Not just at the grocery store, but with life decisions. Risking changing jobs, even if the job is what you want & better for you. Traveling is a no go. You can't trust that your vehicle will make it more than across town. So, you miss out on friend time almost all the time. your relationships suffer. You also carry so much guilt when you find yourself with more.
You find yourself hanging onto clothes that don't fit anymore, or furniture that doesn't work for you anymore because gods forbid, you might need it again someday. I promise, 99.8% of the time, you won't.
We slept on a mattress on the floor for most of our adult lives because why spend money on a bed? This works.
No, no it didn't.
There's nothing wrong with fixing things or looking for bargains, but if you keep repairing a 20 year old vehicle and spend a couple grand a year or buy a bunch of bargain things to try and match the quality of one nice thing, well, you've probably got some "poverty mentality" and you're not really saving anything, but spending more & struggling & stressing while you're at it.
Just buy the nice thing. Trust me. It'll allow you to breathe.
COVID helped us with this. Well, not the virus itself, but the break & the COVID relief money as well as therapy and reading & learning about poverty mentality and how it was really screwing us up.
It started with the bed, then the hot water heater, then the plumbing getting fixed and the kitchen sink being replaced and we just went from there. Now we have a new HVAC system and the foundation guy is coming out this week. With each new repair, there's a breath of fresh air and stress disappears. Learning how to spend & breaking that mentality has really helped. I finally took a chance at changing my job (thanks for the inspiration Lena Luthor) and that also helped.
We still have work to do.
I hope you all had a stress-free holiday as well. If not, ask yourself why? Take steps to change it. Life is short. Let's really live it.
If you can get it local, do that. Sometimes, you can't. Sometimes, you are supporting small business, just small business online.
With that said, I'm going to talk about a few companies that I am familiar with online if you want to go that route.
There are so many businesses popping up online nowadays that sometimes it's really hard to tell if they're legit. Even legit ones though can totally suck or just aren't real great at what they do.
Disclaimer: I do not work for or get anything (perks, free stuff, promos) from these companies. These are my own opinions based solely on my own experience. If they want to send me free shit, I would be super excited, but as for now, they do not.
The first business I'm going to tout is The Angry Minnow. This business is out of Minnesota and claims to "custom make and finish each piece" in their US facility. They've managed to wrangle some fun & impressive IPs for use as well as their own designs and use them on really quality hats, clothing & accessories. I, myself, have a Sleestak hat. I love it. Probably my favorite hat ever.
If you know someone who loves trucker hats, baseball caps, etc. These guys are legit. They have anything from Sleestaks to Whitecastle to your fav sports team and did I mention quality. Seriously. It's a great hat. I don't own a flannel or other item from them, so I can't speak to the quality of those, but if it's anything like their hats, well...yeah. Quality.
Pricing? Yeah, the stuff is a little expensive, competitive though, and again, quality. At least, the hats.
I'm not going to lie. They have some sweet stuff over there. Especially if you like superheroes and ugly sweaters. Or pretty much pop culture home decor. However, quality is average & they are international (outside the US) and despite saying "no additional shipping costs" and making jokes about their workers being "enslaved wookies" (yikes!) I've been charged import shipping/tax by them. I have the receipt. I'll find it & post it if I do. Plus, they completely screwed up my order & it took forever to get here. Two years ago BEFORE the USPS was all screwy. I can't imagine the wait time now. You'd need to order holiday sweaters in May to get them before Turkey day. I love my Superman ugly holiday sweater, but it's acrylic, cheaply made & by the time everything was sorted, the holidays were over. Plus the import/customs/extra charge on my Credit Card. Oh, and they weren't real nice about the sweater mix up either. I did get to keep the extra sweater, but when it's not the item you want...is that really a positive thing? It made a great donate-able gift though.
Looking for holiday cards from a real old school printing press? Oh boy, do I have the place for you! Also coming to you from Minnesota, The Warrior Printress has what you need. If they don't, they can custom design them for you. Now, this isn't some cheap $10 box of 50 cards from Wal-Mart. These are hand designed cards made on a real letterpress. Check out the video below.
Pricey? Yes and no. More expensive than that cheap "Made in China" box of cards but priceless for the art you get. And that's the thing. It isn't some lifeless thing you are giving, it's something that was 100% made with love. And quality? Absolutely. Best quality you can get. Oh, and they do more than cards.
Lastly, I'm going to let you in on one of my favorite places to browse. The Goodwill Store. No, not the one downtown. The one online! They recently revamped their site & seriously, you never know what you'll find. They have everything. Wish you could buy your childhood back but hate EBAY? Try this? Want a cool pocket knife. This is the place. Old fishing lures. Yep. Bundles of cheap comics for the kids. Indeed. Lots of action figures at low prices? Absolutely.
Now, shipping can get you sometimes, depending on weight, but they only charge you what it costs to ship. For real. And it goes to a pretty good cause. And seriously. There is nothing they don't have.
I mean, I just typed in the word Braille in the Goodwill store search engine and boom, a Brailler came up. I didn't even know they made those. I mean, of course they do, but see what I mean?
Finally. I made it. I'm a Museum Tech/Craftsperson.
What is a Museum Tech/Craftsperson?
A creative problem-solver mostly.
You check the lights daily, make sure all the touch screens are responding check all the knobs and switches and keep everything running smoothly.
There's lots of things to keep running smoothly. Lots of things.
Plus, you help Education with builds they need. And come up with creative ideas for events.
You also help curators and collection managers. From building dummies to showcase outfits for an exhibit to welding rods and building brackets to hold ancient cunieform tablets.
