News Round-Up! Awesome pumpkins and Dustin Nguyen's new "Li'l Gotham" series!

[about_faces]

First off, thanks for the good vibes, everyone! Against all odds, we managed to dodge a bullet with the Frankenstorm. We got seriously lucky, and while we're not out of the woods yet, it looks like everything is more or less okay

Comments

[mothy_van_cleer]

Does Hush's appearance here signify that he may be returning to continuity at some point? Because I'd just love to hear your take on that.

So much for my hopes of finally sucking up the guts to review Batman: The Long Halloween this year.

Hey, that doesn't rule out the possibility of doing four three-part reviews sometime in the future. (Of course, this means you'd have to write a huge in-depth article in time for Christmas, but then you wouldn't have to pick up the book again until St. Patrick's Day. Fast, quick and dirty, like peeling off a Band-Aid.)

[about_faces]

It hadn't even occurred to me that Hush hasn't been around in the DCnU, has he? Huh! Well, I'm sure that won't last. He's too well-known a character, especially now after Arkham City, and Jim Lee is running the show. Unless he does something major to a character I care about, I doubt I will have much to say about Hush's return other than the usual "Bah, Hush."

I keep waffling about how I would want to approach TLH. On one hand, all I really care about discussing is Harvey and Gilda, but that involves directly looking at the murder mystery, which involves looking at the Falcones, and so on. I could easily go without including stuff like Bruce/Selina, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow/Jervis, Bruce Wayne's parental angst, and stuff like that, which just points to how extraneous those subplots really were, but I dunno, I might want to rant about those too!

I also sort of feel like I need to go on at length about all the things that TLH shamelessly homages/rips-off. Also, I have a whole separate rant about how I would liken TLH to the show Lost.

[lego_joker]

Hey, if it's a year to next Halloween, then there's a tiny sliver of hope for that thirteen-part mass review I suggested way back when!

Of course, I still need to get the framing device in place... and there's still nothing stopping you from just reviewing it however you want... but I think that my idea would partially take care of your worries - your co-reviewers could easily look at all the subplots you're too lazy to rant about, and we could even bring a couple pro-TLH fans onboard!

[about_faces]

Okay, so since I clearly misunderstood what you meant in the first place, please run your idea by me again. And what framing device now?

[akselavshalom]

Aw, that's the cutest thing ever!
Who's that kid with the fedora in top right corner, to the left of the Carpenter?

[mothy_van_cleer]

That would be Colin Wilkes, who - despite his appearances being mostly a handful of issues of Streets of Gotham - still commands a sizeable fanbase on Tumblr and DeviantArt. And, evidently, a soft spot in co-creator Dustin Nguyen's heart.

Speaking of which, Dustin apparently re-created one of my favourite pieces of his in chibi form. I love that.

[akselavshalom]

Sounds like a neat little big character.

Pnf... sweet piece.

[about_faces]

Really, he has a following? Huh. Well, I guess I'm glad that some fans are actually reading comics...?

[1mercystreet]

wow! This year I've seen some amazing pumpkin art around Teh Intarwebz, but the Harvey one has to be the best.

I'm not normally into cutesy comic art but I rather like that calendar one. Of course the best thing about it is that it gives me the opportunity to say "Two-Face is being photobombed by a duck. Your argument is invalid."

[about_faces]

Li'l Gothams does rather push the boundaries of cutesy takes on these characters, but Nguyen manages to keep it more enjoyable than annoying.

[maridee42]

Steph was my entry point into comics proper. There was something so wonderfully unique about her, cheerful and bright but still a very real person who struggled and had mundane things happen to her and worked her ass off to be a good superhero. I think the chain was tvtropes - girl-wonder.org - scans_daily, who have most of her storyline up there. She made me care about feminism, and her return made me believe there could be change. She helped make me more aware of my world. Meeting Steph started me on a journey that has changed me, I hope for the better.

So...yeah, it hurts a lot, to see DC take a perfectly good character and just erase her, as if all that she means to her fans were nothing. And this is comparatively small, all things considered. It's not like how she was erased from Smallville. But it's still so ridiculously petty and stupid, and ridiculously easy to point out. All they did was Photoshop. It doesn't even look anything like the hair of the girl next to her. I could probably do a better job in Paint

[maridee42]

also, akdjfldksjfldsjf Hush is taking one of Catwoman's hearts, that is a horrible joke and Nguyen should be ashamed of himself in the best possible way.

[about_faces]

While I have not yet felt that or any connection with Steph (I suppose I should read Robin's solo series, for a start), your reasons for why she's so important to you are inspiring. It's enough to make me want to give her a chance into my own heart.

Yeah, at this point, I truly cannot see any reason for why DC would be doing this other than out of sheer spite. I think they have resented fangirls for being so vocal during the girl-wonder heyday, and with the Steph cosplayer calling their bullshit out in a large public forum and humbling them across the blogosphere, I can't help but see Steph's erasure as an attempt to drive away the fangirl base.

If anyone has any other plausible explanation, please, share it with the rest of the class!

[maridee42]

Yeah, that would probably help. Her Batgirl series is decent, and overall a lot of fun, but I don't really feel like it got at the heart of the character? By which I mean that it doesn't push her, or really draw on her history. Her conflict there is establishing herself as a superhero and gradually building herself up from her reputation as the failure Robin. I think Miller was going for a slow burn, which was sadly shortsighted because it confirmed that reputation in a few areas where I don't think it was necessarily called for. She did spend a few years as a vigilante on her own budget, after all. And overall, it really doesn't compare to Cass' series in depth and intensity. But I think it was nice for Steph to have a lighthearted series. It's not exactly like she needed more gloom-and-brood in her life

[abqreviews]

Awww, so glad to see everyone made it out alright.

Those pumpkins are works of art, plain and simple, even though the scarring pattern on the Two-Face pumpkin makes me half-expect it to say "I said where's the fuckin' bourbon!?".

I might have to check Lil Gothams out, it takes real talent to make Zsasz, Croc and Man-Bat look adorable on purpose.

[about_faces]

Thanks! We got lucky, and dear god, apparently there's another storm headed this way next week? Oy.

I might have to check Lil Gothams out, it takes real talent to make Zsasz, Croc and Man-Bat look adorable on purpose.

Zsasz is by far the most impressive on that count. If Nguyen can actually manage to incorporate Chibi!Zsasz into a cutesy story, I'll be impressed as hell.