Pretty small batch this week. hermanos is busy at that APE thing, so nothing from him. Esther insisted on including the Blue Beetle back-up from Booster Gold #25. Something about the “fangirls running the asylum.”
Batgirl #3
Bryan Q. Miller and Lee Garbett
Booster Gold #25
Dan Jurgens
I’ve been looking at the various trailers for motion comics at amazon.com, trying to come up with a consistent opinion on them, and failing completely.
Some, like The Astonishing X-men, look just atrocious. The figures move like bobble-heads, the zooming of the camera doesn’t let you appreciate the art and the voice acting is flat and unpleasant.
Others have better production values but seem misguided. Batgirl: Year One, though a great story, doesn’t lend itself to motion comics. The many flashbacks were difficult to assimilate in the book and just look confused when there’s visual differentiation between present and past, no time to linger, and the camera won’t stop moving. Also, the voices are way off, with Babs sounding sixteen and James Gordon coming off as angry and repressive, instead of good-natured but over-protective.
Comics like Mad Love and Watchmen, no matter how well done, are just redundant. Mad Love was already both an episode of the TV show and a comic. Obviously it’s a popular story, but it’s a story that has been told frame-for-frame in two different kinds of media. Motion comics split the difference without adding anything. If you want to see the art, pick up the comic. If you want to see the story, buy the actual episode of the show. Same with Watchmen. We have a movie and a comic. A motion comic is overkill.
That being said? I want those Batman: Black and Whiteepisodes. I want them baaaaad.
apologies to jack kirby.)
Yes, hair color.
Is it me or is comics over-loaded with redheads, blonds, and . . . there’s no noun for black-haired people?
The detective on Batgirl, Nick Gage (or as I christened him Hunter B.B.Q. Picklejaropener), has black hair and the standard superhero body (tall, football-player shoulders, large muscles, and a jaw so square that you could pack a dozen of them evenly in a cardboard box).
He also has black hair, in a town that, now that Tim Drake has grown out of his skinny-kid phase, is overloaded with square-jawed, muscled, tall, broad-shouldered, black -haired men.
Of course you could argue that any one of those characteristics is overdone in comics. But I have to wonder about the hair. It’s a pretty common hair color. Why do comics artists almost never make characters brunettes?
Before I open this comic and spoil it for anyone reading this review, let me begin with the prayer of the comics fan:
Oh Lord, who doth give a shit about comics,
Probably more so than most people realize,
Yeah, I’m looking at you, Schumacher,
But as I was saying,
Oh Master of Divine Sequential Art,
Give us this day a non-sucky comic,
And forgive me my continuity cherry-picking,
As I have forgiven – never mind that part.
Lead my very favorite character in the DCU not into comics ignominy,
But deliver her from cancellation.
And seriously, if she could have fun, kick some ass, and be a character I can sympathize with?
I would appreciate it for ever and ever.
Amen.
All right. Let’s do this thing.
The DCU blog released a preview of Batgirl #1. Don’t bother checking. They don’t say who she is.
Although there are strong hints, and as far as I can tell no comics company has ever played the game slyly enough to counteract people’s expectations with misplaced hints, the identity of the new Batgirl has not been announced.
Back at Wonder-Con I was bubbling with anticipation. Now I’m just so tired. Just. So. Tired. I know that anything to do with comics means a long waiting period, but at some point the question is drawn out long after the answer becomes a source of irritation instead of curiosity.
I know all comics readers, all media consumers in general, have had experiences where the storyline, the movie, the build-up, the series, the idea, or the wait is drawn out so long that the pay-off no longer seems worth it no matter what it is.
So spill, oh faithful gripers. At least it will take my mind off of things.
A lot is made of how, in comics, readers can/will/are supposed to identify with certain characters.
I’ve talked a lot about how, when I was a kid watching Batman: The Animated Series, Batgirl was my favorite character. A girl, running around, having adventures, kicking ass, taking names and sassing Robin was just about the coolest thing little Esther had ever seen. And while I can’t deny that I feel a certain personal investment in Barbara Gordon, exulting in her triumphs and enduring her failures, I don’t think that’s the same as identifying with her. Most of the characters in the Batverse are too perfect to identify with.
Identification also depends a great deal on the reader as well as the character. When you were a kid you might feel a kinship with a fictional child, but when you’re an adult, often you look at the same character and think, “What a brat.”
Have you ever felt a strong connection between yourself and a comics character? And if so, does the connection endure, or has it faded?
The new teaser image for the next Batgirl comic is out. I have several thoughts, which I shall put in no particular order.
