The Cipher 02/16/11: “mojo hand healing power like BANG”
February 16th, 2011 by david brothers | Tags: cipher, Colored Commentary, jonathan hickmancreated: How come people keep saying that Heroes for Hire is a bite of Birds of Prey? The gimmick is completely different, the cast rotates instead of having a core of girl power… I don’t get it, honest I don’t. But whatever whatever, here’s some stuff what I wrote:
–some breakdowns of some mutants from some movie at Moviefone
–a quick look at Marvel’s Heroes for Hire
consumed: How funky is Janelle Monae’s The ArchAndroid
? It got snubbed hard at the Grammys, but that’s life, I figure. Short post today, ’cause things are blowing up.
-via Angie Wang comes a fascinating game. Here’s what she said about it when she linked it: “An affecting wordless game where your anthropomorphizing tendencies towards inanimate objects will reward you” and here’s the link: http://www.the-end-of-us.com. I liked this a lot. Play the game all the way through (it’s as long as a song) before scrolling down to read about it.
–This Jeff Yang piece about how multiracialism is redefining Asian identity is pretty interesting. I wonder if there’s a parallel in the evolution of black racial identity? Like, at some point, your great great great grandparents are straight up African or Haitian or whatever American, and then by it gets down to you, you’re just sorta… black american. That doesn’t mean that you’re not Nigerian or Somalian or whatever, but that you have more to pull from than just one mother culture. Does that make sense? It’s not a diluting so much as it is an evolution and adaptation. I haven’t given this the time to percolate that it deserves, but Yang’s piece brought up a lot of really interesting questions I need to answer for myself.
-It also made me think about fusion cuisine, which I generally think of as being wack but is almost definitely something that you’ll see more of when you hit the family reunion bbq and there’s all types of sushi and collards in casserole dishes and fish, hot dogs, burgers, and hog maws on the grill.
-There’d still be just kool-aid and lemonade in the jugs, though. Everybody loves kool-aid and lemonade.
-Guess who’s hungry right now.
-I’m feeling like Ghostface in “Shakey Dog”. “Fried plantains and rice, big round onions on a T-bone steak, my stomach growling, yo, I want some.”
-More colored commentary, this time courtesy of C-Rayz Walz and The Angel & The Preacher:
-via Ron Wimberly comes a gang of super dope James Bond novel covers. Diamonds Are Forever is great and Octopussy is creepy. It’s slightly nsfw on the sidebar (pulp covers got pretty rowdy), but you can’t see nothing so tell your boss to get deez nutz if he tries to say something.
-JM Ken Niimura, artist of the undeniably dope I Kill Giants, has a webcomic called 514H. I dig it–a little funny, good panels, nice colors. What’s up with not having an RSS feed, though?
-More Jog on Ditko.
-I dig this belt from The Hundreds, but only in black. They’ve got a store in SF. I might pop by and see about picking it up. I went from having regular belts as kids, with loops and holes you had to punch out, to woven belts in high school, and now all I rock are these types. I thought they were called golf belts, but whatever.
–Joáo Lemos is an ill artist. He did the only story I dug in that Wolverine 1000 joint Marvel put out, a collabo with Sarah Cross. I hope this guy gets more and more high profile work.
–People recreating old photos. I think this is good staging + Photoshop? Regardless, this is a fantastic project. I don’t think I can even pick a favorite, though the ones that span like thirty years are pretty awesome.
-The Grammys were a joke when it came to rap. They picked the laziest, safest rap albums to award. Eminem’s Recovery winning over The Roots’s How I Got Over
-ANYway, there’s also Record of the Year awards, which prompted this:
-Four out of five songs nominated for Record of the Year were rap joints. Em and Rihanna’s “Love the Way You Lie” (straight), Bobby Ray and Bruno Mars’s “Nothin’ On You” (good), Cee-Lo’s “Fuck You” (aight, but y’all ran that one into the ground instantly), and Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’s “Empire State of Mind” (one of Jay’s best, I guess). The fifth song is Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now.” Now, silly me, I figured we’d get a rap win.
-Four rappers. One country group named after nostalgia for back when nigras knew their place won.
-Really though? That’s pretty doggone suspect.
-The next Damon Albarn Appreciation Society post might be a little mean. A preview:
-Speaking of mean… Jonathan Hickman and Dustin Weaver’s SHIELD would be an ill comic if it were about something other than how unbelievably awesome white dudes have been throughout history. I mean, dang, can’t I at least get an Arab mathematician or Chinese dude as an actual character? Only white guys did anything of substance over the past however many thousand years and next few hundred years? I feel like I’m asking for one rib over here.
David: Hellblazer 276, Thunderbolts 153
Esther: Yes: Superman/Batman 81, Tiny Titans 37
Perhaps, if Damian is really funny: Supergirl 61
Possibly, if it looks decent: Young Justice 1, although it’s stupid that they made Robin Dick and not Tim. Tim’s been around for twenty-two years! That’s at least twice as long as the show’s target audience has been alive. Come on, people!
Gavin: Booster Gold 41, Green Lantern Corps 57, Green Lantern 62, Darkwing Duck 9, Amazing Spider-Man 654.1, Avengers Academy 9, Deadpool MAX 5, Hulk 30, S.H.I.E.L.D. 6, Thunderbolts 153, Uncanny X-Force 5
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I liked the game’s concept, but the Flash gave me a hard time, and so I didn’t become fully endeared to Orange–by the time I caught on to what they were trying to do, it was too late.
Something about its format rubbed me the wrong way, though, and I’m not sure that I can articulate it. I guess it’s just that while the initial playful/competitive section worked, when it came time to reach the conclusion, and your behavior came into play, you couldn’t necessarily pick up on what was being asked of you in the same way. You’ve played “Passage,” I assume – I feel like it was after similar things with a less focused approach. Maybe that’s just me.
Loved the song Blackout the first time I ever saw it! It’s awesome to see you mentioning it too.
@Patchworkearth: I haven’t, but I’ll download it tonight.
This one clicked partway through, when I realized that orange had behavior of its own and wasn’t just mirroring my actions. The asteroid field was disorienting and stressful, and I wasn’t even really sure why at first.
SHIELD just left me scratching my head. It’s so cold and there’s no emotional core to it. That wouldn’t be such a bad thing if its scope weren’t so monumental.
Uncanny X-Force (Remender/Ribic): This one was good. I sorta miss Ribic’s painted style (like on Loki), but this looks nice. I like how Remender is expanding on The World from NXM, too. I like it a lot, but is it four dollars good? That’s a tough sell for me.
Thunderbolts (Parker/Walker): Ruled. Juggernaut’s great, mouth-to-mouth’s great, and Parker using Ali references is always good.
Jennifer Blood (Ennis/Batista): The art’s awful (really awful) and I don’t know if the joke has legs. I like Ennis, though, and this reads like an outtake from Marvel Knights Punisher. I probably won’t check it out again til it’s done. The story needs a better artist, and if they’re shooting direct from pencils, they need to hire an inker.
You’re reading too much into The Lady Antebellum deal. As far as the name aspect goes, the group is named after taking a photo shoot in a Pre-civil war mansion – Antebellum architecture.
Besides, the fact that they got nominated means they stood as good a chance as any to win. I don’t see how it’s suspect.
If anything chalk it up to the Grammy’s having boring taste, which they always have.
I totally over the Grammys’ importance as it has along with the Oscars and Emmys become redundant. My prime example: The Yankees won the World Series in 2009. Deter Jeter’s song for coming up to bat that whole summer into the Playoffs (and even in May) was Empire State of Mind… So how was it nominated for the 2010-11 Grammys???
I loved both How I got Over and Recovery, and I agree with your Roots oversight. And I loved Espie Spaulding’s nomination and win. The backlash about it just reinforces how this generation of music “fans” and radio stations are afraid to branch out occasionally to other genres. After all, you caught how Bruno Mars, B.o.B., and Janelle Monae adapted their performance styles into a 50-60’s rock & roll/jazz hybrid. I guarantee there were folks going “what the hell?”
..but at the same time, I can’t stand being told what is cool on all sides of the equation. Arcade Fire? Lady Gaga? Rihanna? Justin Bieber? Some songs are ok but having them pushed down my throat forces me to push back. I like experimenting with music and I like varying styles just like my comics.
Speaking of which your S.H.I.E.L.D. point is on the money, however according to some people, fans, and reviewers, multi-culturism and progression in comics is a bad thing. But at the same time these same folks want to tell me how Watchmen was so “progressive”… Hypocritical much? It has also forced me to accept the new Aqualad on Young Justice…
(Although his line of “I’m only holding the leadership role until you grow into it, Everyone knows you are fated to lead.” to Robin had me turn the TV. Come on, what has “hybrid Robin” shown in the first 5 episodes that makes him leadership material outside of the end of the Blockbuster fight?!?!?!?)
Then again it is the same thinking that has most new superheroes of ethnic persuasions hated (Triathlon), stereotyped (take your pick), or killed off (yeah not going here)…
I still refuse to check off “African-American” on most census questions. Sorry I didn’t come from Africa… I’m American or Human… I can just imagine what it is like for Asians or Latins who are proud of their individual backgrounds to be pigeon-holed like that.
Sry David, had a lot pent up this week…I’ll try to keep it on point and less wordy next time… 🙂
co-sign on that SHIELD point. I got bored after issue three. I read the black and white issue 1 and like that fact that I can image all the Egyptian characters as brown and black.
So far most of comics is a bunch of white american dudes writing about awesome white dudes.
Reread Thunderbolts again last night. Can’t believe I missed Juggernaut’s “and I spit in the wind” line in connection with his tugging on Supe..Hyperion…
Re: Lady Antebellum
http://whattamisaid.blogspot.com/2010/01/lady-antebellum-and-glorification-of.html
“Lady Antebellum and the glorification of the pre-Civil War South”
It’s a good read. Even if the group chose to name themselves after an architecture term, it doesn’t mean that they get a free pass for ignorance of the terms connotations.
Also, thanks for the link on Asian multiracialism!