Girl Comics- well, they do all star girls. But so do most of the comics I buy.
I have noticed my preference in comics is buying those that star heroines. Because Darrin keeps pointing this out to me. So I list off some titles I buy that star guys to get him off my back and it works. But it is interesting. It's no secret I'm drawn to kickass women, but generally I do find stories starring females or with a good female presence in then to be better quality and more suited to my tastes as well. Which is interesting.
Leaving that philisophical conundrum, let's review Girl Comics and all those other girly comics I buy!
Girl Comics #1
I was expecting this to be more awesome than it was, but it was pretty good and I'll be getting the rest.
The cover by Amanda Conner is amazing as always, but seriously, why on earth would Iron Man think he was stronger than She Hulk? And Wolverine and Spiderman must have sawdust for brains because they ACTUALLY BET AGAINST her! But we already knew that, I mean, one sold his mairrage to the devil and the other is...Wolverine, but Cap also looks vaguely dissapointed SERIOUSLY CAP?
First story is an intro by Colleen Coover with her absolutely adorable art. I love cartoony art. And the message was very spot-on and inspirational too.
Second is a story by Ming Doyle and G. Willow Wilson that is beautifully illustrated but the plot is basically "Nightcrawler saves some chick". But Nightcrawler looks adorable, so I suppose that makes up for it.
Third is a truly old school and adorable story by Trina Robbins and Stephanie Buscema. I love the art, and I know it's a throwback to the fifities comic, but God does in irk me when they mix up Greek and Roman names. Seriously "Venus" and "Zeus" and "Mercury" and "Ares" all in the same pantheon? Ares masquerades as A. Reese...he did that in Wonder Woman once, didn't he? Oh, Ares. And has War tattooed on his chest. I demand this happen in Wonder Woman. Venus wins a bet using her feminine wiles. So old school, so delicious.
Valerie D'Orazio and Nikki Cook's story was...okay, but...really predictable. Punisher throws in own version of "To Catch a Predator" only kills a guy. Honestly, it should have been two pages shorter, if not three. The story is over the second we see the Punisher is on the other end of the line and says "Posies are my favorite flowers". The other pages just showed us our predator is fond of clowns.
There is a Sana Takeda pinup of She-Hulk and it is terrble ohmygodwhatthehell. I thought She-Hulk was supposed to be a funny gal, why is she grimaching with me and why is she tying herself with a jumprope and what the hell happened to her body fat. Takeda, when John Byrne is classier, you have a problem. What you were "tributing" was fun and tongue in cheek. This is...I don't know what the hell this is.
Girl Comics truly shows us all sides of the industry- women can make shitty pinup art too. Woo equality!
Lucy Kinsley does the most adorably and funny two page story. Ya just wanna hug poor Doc Oc.
The Robin Furth and Agnes story with Franklin and Val Richards in some wacky clockwork version of Hansel and Gretel is cool and full of whimsy. I like how we need footnotes to translate what the hell Val is saying....actually, I needed more footnotes. What the hell is tachycardia...oh, heart arrhythmia, so says google. Jeez, Reed, why haven't you cured that if Val has it? SCIENCE HAS SOME EXPLAINING TO DO! Anyway, I love Val and Franklin and their bratty ways.
The Devin Grayson story...is very sterotypically Devin Grayson. Cyclops angsts about Wolverine and Jean steals a smoldering look with said Hairy Dude while telling her BF everything's a-ok. (I can't help but wonder why Logan's there. "Hey, Wolvie, I'm gonna mind meld with Scott and possibly he'll be tormented over his insecurity about our relationship" "Okay. I'll grab a beer and watch." "Cool!") Devin Grayson, I feel sorry for you for all the crap you get (despite the fact the whole raping Nighwing things is NOT ON) stop constantly writing about angst and making it easier for people. Try fun things!
The comics also had nice little inserts about important women in Marvel, which is a nice gesture.
It was a very hit or miss anthology, but i enjoyed it and will get the next one.
4/5
Detective Comics
Batwoman and Batman get punked! Oh snap! And Bette is all sad about not being Flamebird for whatever reason she's not being Flamebird and Batwoman enjoys that she has pointy ears, there is a serial killer fight and Bette purse-smashes but OH NO GIRL GETS HIT WITH KNIFE.
The Question backup HAS ORACLE AND ORACLE AND HELENA HANGING OUT AND HELENA BEING SNARKY AND RENEE BEING DORKY SQUEEEEEE Now they're on Oolong Island which might mean Veronica Cale, yeeeay!
5/5
Cinderella #5
Cindy has to do a prison break in wooden clogs to rescue Aladdin's tortured ass and OHNO! Someone from her past is the perpetrator! If I tell you this issue reminded me heavily of Terry Pratchett's "Witches Abroad" you can probably guess who it is. At any rate, next issue? Should be fun!
5/5
I bought some Invincible trades and am enjoying them. Also, read the last few issues of Batman and Robin. I surprisingly enjoyed the very last one. The one before it wasn't that great because it consisted of Dick being and idiot and Damian being a brat to his well-meaning doctor and Alfred for some reason not scolding him for this. Seriously, Alfred would be like "Apologize to that doctor right now, young man." That's really what I dislike about Morrison and Damian- usually people don't react to them like they should. In Batgirl, we have Dick reluctantly admitting he likes it when Damien's not talking, Babs calling him a murderous little twerp, Stephanie reacting in a slightly aggravated way, but mostly finding his attitude worthy of jokes and pointed nicknames and putting up with him because she's more empathetic than I could ever manage. But then we have shit like Alfred letting Damian treat his doctors like crap in B&R, which just doesn't sit right with me.
But the last issue, I actually grew kind of engrossed reading it at the counter. Mostly because Batwoman was written well, which is a plus. She reacts to dying and being ressurected with a "whoa, that was intense!" She snarks beautifully at the ZombieBats, and has some warm and fuzzy friendship time with Dick. And when Dicks asks if since she died like the Crime Bible said it will really usher in a new age of crime, she says "Well, I guess that means I'm a new age crimefighter!" and grapples off.
Also, in contrast to Alfred (who is VERY DISSAPROVING OF ZOMBIE BATMAN I SAY, HAVE THIS TEA-TRAY SMASHED ON YOUR HEAD MASTER NOT-BRUCE) Dick is IC in one regard and mostly seems to cheerfully ignore whatever Damian says in between making fun of him.
Baiscally: Zombie Bats and Damian have a brief scuffle, in which Damian throws his wheelchair at him whch is kinda cool, I'll admit, then Zombie Batman does what we've all wanted to at one point and throws him off a building but then he makes his *tt* little scoffing noise, presumably because he either sees Dick coming to save him or the prospect of dead bores him like everything else.
Dick's all like "HI THAR, MY TIMING IS EXCELLENT." And Damian is like "you do not get to brag because this is all your fault, Pennyworth and I could have died.." which is...STOP BEING RIGHT DAMIAN, IT UNNERVES ME. But Dick is like "Whatevs just stay over there and glare at stuff, you should jump around so much you just got a new spine" and Damian is like "WELL I'LL JUST SIT THERE NEXT TIME A ZOMBIE ATTACKS ME THANKS FOR THE TIP." But Dick is reallyreallyhappy and he is not letting Damian harsh his good mood and just snarks at him some more.
Then Alfred reminds everyone "Hey, Master Dick, I seem to recall you telling Master Drake NOT to bring back the loved ones with the Lazarus pit?" And Dick's all "You noticed that, huh? Well, yeah, that's true for loved ones but Bruce is like, Gotham needs him and stuff so I owed it to the world to try because HE IS THE GODDAMN BATMAN. And wellllll...I kinda...you noticed how that wasn't Batman's corpse. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS GUYS TIM DRAKE IS RIGHT AND BRUCE IS NOT DEAD. Hey, why did I just use Tim's full name like I don't know him?"
Okay, that last line wasn't true, but Dick SHOULD have said it. I mean, Dick, you can just say "Tim" , we know who you are talking about, there is only one Tim who is currently gloating his ass off at you. Morrison really gets voices wrong and writes weird dialogue sometimes. THAT'S RIGHT I SAID IT.
I was pleasantly surprised Morrison at least acknowledged Dick's OOC and tried to give an explanation, even if I'm not sure I totally buy it. Yes, Dick, you suddenly decided to dump Batman's body in the Lazarus Pit because YOU OWE IT TO THE WORLD and ALSO MAYBE HE'S NOT DEAD, SO LET'S JUST TEST THAT BY UNLEASHING A ZOMBIE PSYCHO CLONE. (Yes, the corpse is a Darkseid clone. Shock!)
But the most important thing about this issue was Batwoman being awesome and Cameron Stewart art being pretty.
But yeah, surprisingly better than I expected. Not good enough for me to actually pick up Batman and Robin. But. You know. Batwoman. Awesome.
And those are my reviews for this week! Now I'm gonna enjoy my Spring Break!
Leaving that philisophical conundrum, let's review Girl Comics and all those other girly comics I buy!
Girl Comics #1
I was expecting this to be more awesome than it was, but it was pretty good and I'll be getting the rest.
The cover by Amanda Conner is amazing as always, but seriously, why on earth would Iron Man think he was stronger than She Hulk? And Wolverine and Spiderman must have sawdust for brains because they ACTUALLY BET AGAINST her! But we already knew that, I mean, one sold his mairrage to the devil and the other is...Wolverine, but Cap also looks vaguely dissapointed SERIOUSLY CAP?
First story is an intro by Colleen Coover with her absolutely adorable art. I love cartoony art. And the message was very spot-on and inspirational too.
Second is a story by Ming Doyle and G. Willow Wilson that is beautifully illustrated but the plot is basically "Nightcrawler saves some chick". But Nightcrawler looks adorable, so I suppose that makes up for it.
Third is a truly old school and adorable story by Trina Robbins and Stephanie Buscema. I love the art, and I know it's a throwback to the fifities comic, but God does in irk me when they mix up Greek and Roman names. Seriously "Venus" and "Zeus" and "Mercury" and "Ares" all in the same pantheon? Ares masquerades as A. Reese...he did that in Wonder Woman once, didn't he? Oh, Ares. And has War tattooed on his chest. I demand this happen in Wonder Woman. Venus wins a bet using her feminine wiles. So old school, so delicious.
Valerie D'Orazio and Nikki Cook's story was...okay, but...really predictable. Punisher throws in own version of "To Catch a Predator" only kills a guy. Honestly, it should have been two pages shorter, if not three. The story is over the second we see the Punisher is on the other end of the line and says "Posies are my favorite flowers". The other pages just showed us our predator is fond of clowns.
There is a Sana Takeda pinup of She-Hulk and it is terrble ohmygodwhatthehell. I thought She-Hulk was supposed to be a funny gal, why is she grimaching with me and why is she tying herself with a jumprope and what the hell happened to her body fat. Takeda, when John Byrne is classier, you have a problem. What you were "tributing" was fun and tongue in cheek. This is...I don't know what the hell this is.
Girl Comics truly shows us all sides of the industry- women can make shitty pinup art too. Woo equality!
Lucy Kinsley does the most adorably and funny two page story. Ya just wanna hug poor Doc Oc.
The Robin Furth and Agnes story with Franklin and Val Richards in some wacky clockwork version of Hansel and Gretel is cool and full of whimsy. I like how we need footnotes to translate what the hell Val is saying....actually, I needed more footnotes. What the hell is tachycardia...oh, heart arrhythmia, so says google. Jeez, Reed, why haven't you cured that if Val has it? SCIENCE HAS SOME EXPLAINING TO DO! Anyway, I love Val and Franklin and their bratty ways.
The Devin Grayson story...is very sterotypically Devin Grayson. Cyclops angsts about Wolverine and Jean steals a smoldering look with said Hairy Dude while telling her BF everything's a-ok. (I can't help but wonder why Logan's there. "Hey, Wolvie, I'm gonna mind meld with Scott and possibly he'll be tormented over his insecurity about our relationship" "Okay. I'll grab a beer and watch." "Cool!") Devin Grayson, I feel sorry for you for all the crap you get (despite the fact the whole raping Nighwing things is NOT ON) stop constantly writing about angst and making it easier for people. Try fun things!
The comics also had nice little inserts about important women in Marvel, which is a nice gesture.
It was a very hit or miss anthology, but i enjoyed it and will get the next one.
4/5
Detective Comics
Batwoman and Batman get punked! Oh snap! And Bette is all sad about not being Flamebird for whatever reason she's not being Flamebird and Batwoman enjoys that she has pointy ears, there is a serial killer fight and Bette purse-smashes but OH NO GIRL GETS HIT WITH KNIFE.
The Question backup HAS ORACLE AND ORACLE AND HELENA HANGING OUT AND HELENA BEING SNARKY AND RENEE BEING DORKY SQUEEEEEE Now they're on Oolong Island which might mean Veronica Cale, yeeeay!
5/5
Cinderella #5
Cindy has to do a prison break in wooden clogs to rescue Aladdin's tortured ass and OHNO! Someone from her past is the perpetrator! If I tell you this issue reminded me heavily of Terry Pratchett's "Witches Abroad" you can probably guess who it is. At any rate, next issue? Should be fun!
5/5
I bought some Invincible trades and am enjoying them. Also, read the last few issues of Batman and Robin. I surprisingly enjoyed the very last one. The one before it wasn't that great because it consisted of Dick being and idiot and Damian being a brat to his well-meaning doctor and Alfred for some reason not scolding him for this. Seriously, Alfred would be like "Apologize to that doctor right now, young man." That's really what I dislike about Morrison and Damian- usually people don't react to them like they should. In Batgirl, we have Dick reluctantly admitting he likes it when Damien's not talking, Babs calling him a murderous little twerp, Stephanie reacting in a slightly aggravated way, but mostly finding his attitude worthy of jokes and pointed nicknames and putting up with him because she's more empathetic than I could ever manage. But then we have shit like Alfred letting Damian treat his doctors like crap in B&R, which just doesn't sit right with me.
But the last issue, I actually grew kind of engrossed reading it at the counter. Mostly because Batwoman was written well, which is a plus. She reacts to dying and being ressurected with a "whoa, that was intense!" She snarks beautifully at the ZombieBats, and has some warm and fuzzy friendship time with Dick. And when Dicks asks if since she died like the Crime Bible said it will really usher in a new age of crime, she says "Well, I guess that means I'm a new age crimefighter!" and grapples off.
Also, in contrast to Alfred (who is VERY DISSAPROVING OF ZOMBIE BATMAN I SAY, HAVE THIS TEA-TRAY SMASHED ON YOUR HEAD MASTER NOT-BRUCE) Dick is IC in one regard and mostly seems to cheerfully ignore whatever Damian says in between making fun of him.
Baiscally: Zombie Bats and Damian have a brief scuffle, in which Damian throws his wheelchair at him whch is kinda cool, I'll admit, then Zombie Batman does what we've all wanted to at one point and throws him off a building but then he makes his *tt* little scoffing noise, presumably because he either sees Dick coming to save him or the prospect of dead bores him like everything else.
Dick's all like "HI THAR, MY TIMING IS EXCELLENT." And Damian is like "you do not get to brag because this is all your fault, Pennyworth and I could have died.." which is...STOP BEING RIGHT DAMIAN, IT UNNERVES ME. But Dick is like "Whatevs just stay over there and glare at stuff, you should jump around so much you just got a new spine" and Damian is like "WELL I'LL JUST SIT THERE NEXT TIME A ZOMBIE ATTACKS ME THANKS FOR THE TIP." But Dick is reallyreallyhappy and he is not letting Damian harsh his good mood and just snarks at him some more.
Then Alfred reminds everyone "Hey, Master Dick, I seem to recall you telling Master Drake NOT to bring back the loved ones with the Lazarus pit?" And Dick's all "You noticed that, huh? Well, yeah, that's true for loved ones but Bruce is like, Gotham needs him and stuff so I owed it to the world to try because HE IS THE GODDAMN BATMAN. And wellllll...I kinda...you noticed how that wasn't Batman's corpse. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS GUYS TIM DRAKE IS RIGHT AND BRUCE IS NOT DEAD. Hey, why did I just use Tim's full name like I don't know him?"
Okay, that last line wasn't true, but Dick SHOULD have said it. I mean, Dick, you can just say "Tim" , we know who you are talking about, there is only one Tim who is currently gloating his ass off at you. Morrison really gets voices wrong and writes weird dialogue sometimes. THAT'S RIGHT I SAID IT.
I was pleasantly surprised Morrison at least acknowledged Dick's OOC and tried to give an explanation, even if I'm not sure I totally buy it. Yes, Dick, you suddenly decided to dump Batman's body in the Lazarus Pit because YOU OWE IT TO THE WORLD and ALSO MAYBE HE'S NOT DEAD, SO LET'S JUST TEST THAT BY UNLEASHING A ZOMBIE PSYCHO CLONE. (Yes, the corpse is a Darkseid clone. Shock!)
But the most important thing about this issue was Batwoman being awesome and Cameron Stewart art being pretty.
But yeah, surprisingly better than I expected. Not good enough for me to actually pick up Batman and Robin. But. You know. Batwoman. Awesome.
And those are my reviews for this week! Now I'm gonna enjoy my Spring Break!