eldarwannabe

I'm on a borrowed laptop, with spotty internet access, but the world must know:

I HAVE WEDNESDAY COMICS ISSUE ONE!

There are something like two comic book stores in the country and I managed to get to one of them yesterday. Of course, I have serious doubts about my ability to do it again, but at least I got the first issue, right? I've been slowly savoring it, like hot tea, little sips at a time. It's just so awesome!

(I think I might spontaneously combust next Wednesday if I don't get the next issue. Kaboom.)

I miss you all! I'll try to get some more time in later so I can catch up with people and fandom. (Barbara! What is happening with you?)

Anyway, gotta run! I hope this loads OK!

So, I got an internship abroad for the summer (which is really cool, I'm not gonna lie) and I'm leaving for the airport in an hour.

Excited? Yes.

BUT my internet access is going to be between "rarely" and "never ever" for the next 2 months or so. This doesn't mean I don't want to communicate with you, I just can't.

And I know this is really really bad timing. Between Batgirl, Batman, Superman, Wednesday Comics(!), my new Star Trek craziness and just general fandom activities, I'm going to be waaaay behind on everything for 2 months. Two months which I will spend writing fanfic and worried about Barbara Gordon.

So, ciao everybody! I'll miss you!

Title: Would Have Been Fantastic
Fandom: Star Trek (specifically the new movie)
Disclaimer: As this fandom is decently old, I really have no idea who it really belongs to. But it's certainly not me, and all the contributers to the franchise in general and the most recent Star Trek movie in particular deserve their full credit.
Character(s): Winona Kirk, and little Jimmy
Warnings:: Angst ahoy! Also, I have never written in this fandom before, and I've only seen the movie once. This is extremely unusual for me! I don't think I wrote LotR fanfic until I'd read the books twice!

( George would have been a fantastic father )

So, I saw the new Star Trek movie about a week ago.

I should note now that both of my parents are Star Trek fans, and I grew up watching the occasional rerun of TOS and TNG, and I recall managing to sneak in many late nights while my parents were distracted by Voyager and DS9. (and Law and Order and The Practice, but that's another story)

So I have an itty bit of background in Star Trek, but very little.

But I loved the movie!

( Reactions to the movie and Star Trek in General )

And now for the fandom end of things.

( Star Trek Fandom )

P.S. THIS is where slash fanfic probably began. And it got it's own Wikipedia article. I will now laugh forever and ever.

So, have you ever watched a television show where there's someone on death row and the lawyers (or Project Innocence) launch an appeal? (I just recently watched the episodes of The Practice and Bones with this basic premise)

( And then this frustrates me )

Ed Brubaker wrote Gotham Central and the current Captain America? Oh my gosh, I love this guy. I must read everything he has ever written ever.

Ok, fine. If Cassandra isn't going to be Batgirl, I want a TEAM of Batgirls. You heard me. Steph, Cass, Charlie...hell, go get Sin from wherever Green Arrow stuck her. Swarms of Batgirls taking care of Gotham while Dick keeps Damian from doing anything bad and Alfred runs the Outsiders and Tim goes and broods in foreign countries. We can even give the costume back to Helena, not that I'd think she'd want it anymore.

In face, why hasn't this been done with any heroes before? It would be brilliant for maintaining a secret identity, especially for the non-powered Batcrew. Even better, the Batcrew has worked on maintaining an air of mystique about themselves that lends itself to multiple behind-the-cowl characters. I mean, there's been a couple of Batmans, and as far as we know, the average Gothamite is none the wiser.

And, yes, there are two Green Arrows and lots of Green Lanterns, but they each maintain their distinctiveness on purpose. I'm arguing that the Batgirls should claim (at least publicly) to all be the same person.

If they're going to change my favorite status quo, this could actually be pretty cool.

(I could also totally see Steph getting into the DAAARK VEEENGEEENCE shtick with Charlie. Cass would still be silent and deadly. I would also like it if they retconned out every mention of Evil!Cass ever, while we're living in my fantasy world.)

(I also don't know if this idea is entirely a product of my brain, as it has been mentioned a few time on scans_daily and I honestly can't remember what came first. So disclaimer!)

EDIT: Apparently it was kingrockwell of InsaneJournal who mentioned it first on Scans_Daily. As that was probably how the idea started seeding in my brain, I'm giving credit.

To follow up on my earlier fears, Frank Quitely is drawing Batman a little squarish for my tastes. I'd like it if Dick slimmed down a little.

The first issue of Batman and Robin was fun, and I'm willing to hang around for a bit to see what happens. I'm not buying as they come out, I'm just following on the interwebs (I'm sticking to trades these days. Between my crazy schedule making my LCS an inconvenient chore and paying attention to the moneys, it just makes more sense.) but the first trade will hit my amazon wish list if it keeps going this way.

And I'm a huge fan of Quitely's art, actually. I know a lot of people can't stand it, but the fact that his people have folds is just so unusual in comic art, land of shiny perfection. This picture made me love the Quitely interpretation of Dick even with Bruce's chin. All the folds in the cloth seem to weigh him down even further with the Batlegacy he has inherited. This is actually starting to help me reconcile with bits of Battle for the Cowl - see, Bruce told Dick not to take the mantle in a rare moment of paternal protection. When Bruce recorded that message (which I'm guessing was slightly post-cruise, as I think it probably mellowed him out a bit) he wasn't thinking about Gotham, or dead parents, or traumatizing gunshots. For a moment, he was totally focusing on Dick's needs, and he chose to show it by advising his son against taking a role that would slowly grind the spirit out of him.

Of course, I still think it was a pretty stupid move, but a few more personal retcons and I might be able to reconcile with the status quo without claiming it was all caused by magic. ("Oh yes, Jason is missing? MAAAAAAGIC! Tim has taken the mantle of Elseworlds!Dick and Coundown!Jason? MagicMagicMagic!!")

But Didio? Your luggage will never be safe again. Seriously.

I have to give a five minute powerpoint presentation for one of my business classes. Now, this presents an interesting dilemma. The topic was due last week, so I quickly scribbled, "The history of Barbara Gordon," down as my topic of choice. I had already begun planning it for another class's presentation (I ended up doing "how a comic book page is made," instead) so I thought now would be the perfect time to do it. At five minutes, I figured I could highlight her career as Batgirl, the Killing Joke and her evolution into Oracle, touching on a few other elements, like her relationship with Batman, the Birds of Prey and maybe maybe passing on the mantle to Cassandra Cain. I would frame this with a discussion of fan reactions to characters over the ages, and conclude with the discussion "should Barbara become Batgirl again, or is she better off as Oracle?" with a heavy bias toward staying as Oracle, of course. (I doubt anyone in my class has ever read any comic book with Barbara anyway)

I've already got a basic outline done. I would just have to flesh it out, then cut it down to five minutes. But I talk fast, and I'm using powerpoint, so pictures would make my storytelling easier. ("and then," CLICK BUTTON, "the Joker shot her." SEE EXCERPT FROM THE KILLING JOKE. EVERYONE GASPS. Or something like that.)

But then, I started thinking. How much will my audience get out of this? Sure, they'll know about Barbara, but this could be my opportunity to really tell people about comic books. After all, they have to listen to me. (Mwahaha) And while Barbara is the awesome, I'm not sure if she's as accessible as I'd like her to be.

So I got to thinking. Maybe instead I should do a presentation version of my earlier post about things people should know about the American comic book industry. I would give a brief explanation of what comic books are, (A MEDIUM) and touch a little bit on the history of comic books in the U.S. (because I am not an expert in the slightest) and then outline how to buy comic books and what is available now. Maybe I could close with recommendations. Or possibly talk about how the industry is doing?

The point is: I can make it interesting. (I'm a dynamic speaker, although that might not be obvious from my rambly postings. (Interesting Note: I tend to write in this journal more like the way I would speak the same information. In other words, I write for speaking, which can be different, and more casual, than writing for reading.) I'm also quite loud, which gets people to pay attention)

I'd aim the speech more toward the audience, and I might actually teach them something about a medium in the country.

On the other hand, I have the other one more written out.

And one my friends told me that I should do the Barbara one (and her opinion does count, because I'm going to be practice on her before I give the presentation in class) even though she doesn't know anything about either subject.

Oh, yeah, and the outline of my presentation is due tomorrow. No pressure to make up my mind or anything.

Just read this

Yeah, I followed that. It took me years to get to a place where I could figure it out. And Matrix still confuses me.

So, there's this character named Mon-El in DC Comics. His premise is a bit wonky, but to sum up the current situation: He's from a planet very similar to Krypton, except instead of being vulnerable to Kryptonite (a la Superman) he is extremely vulnerable to LEAD. Lead is very common on Earth, where he inevitably ends up, because that's where all superheroes end up eventually. To save him from the deadly dangers of lead, Superman sticks him in this "phantom zone," basically an empty alternate dimension.

Following? Good. A cure is discovered for lead-poisoning (doesn't matter how) and Mon-El comes out of the phantom zone. Great, right? Well, turns out Superman is gonna be off-planet for a while, so Mon-El is going to cover for him (protect Metropolis and everything. Remember, Mon-El has the same power set as Superman).

And now, here's the point. READ HERE IF YOU SKIPPED THE LAST PARAGRAPHS: We have an alien on Earth who is learning English as a second language. Rather than using the typical hand-waving of sci-fi, it is decided that Mon-El is going to pretend to be BRITISH to explain why he has an accent and talks with weird syntax.

WHAAAA?

Americans might not BE British, but we know what a real British accent sounds like! If someone has a random accent, I can give a pretty good guess if it's British (or from a British colony, like Australia) or not. There is NO WAY that cover story would work. Make him from some really random country with an unfamiliar accent, like an Indonesian Island or something. I see British people on TV, in the city. I have British friends, know random British slang...bad country choice, DC. Really.

Things about the (American) comic book industry that should be common knowledge, but are not:

Yes, comic books are still being published today. And not just in those books you might see in Barnes and Noble. They are published in those little pamphlets you might associate with the second World War.

The vast majority of comic book in the United States are published by two main companies: Marvel Entertainment and DC Comics, commonly referred to as Marvel and DC.

Marvel publishes Spiderman, The Hulk, Iron Man, The X-Men, Thor, and many, many others.

DC publishes Batman, Superman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and many, many others.

Comic books are sent out once a week to comic book stores on Wednesdays. This is the day every week when a comic book fan will typically swing by his local comic book store to pick up that week's batch of issues.

Most comic book titles are published once a month - so every month, on one of the Wednesdays of that month, there will be a new issue of a specific title. (like Batman, or Spiderman.)

There are more comic books being published then you think there are.

There are also some smaller comic book publishing companies, like Dark Horse, Image, Slave Labor Graphics, etc. They tend to not be as superhero-focused as the big two.

Comic books do NOT have to be about Superheroes, that's just a common genre in the medium

I almost guarantee you are using the term "graphic novel" wrong.

Yeah, those stories you had to read for school, like Maus and Persopolis? Those are comics too. Get over it.

Manga are also comics. So are manwha. Get over it.

For that matter, Archie comics are still comics, even though they are socially acceptable.

Yes, the term "comics," is a bit generic and definitely a misnomer. Thus is language. If you really want, you can call them "sequential art."

And for the last time, it's a MEDIUM, not a genre. To say "I don't like comics books" holds about as much water as "I don't like movies." You mean, you don't like movies at all? This isn't to say there are no people who simply do not enjoy any movies in the slightest, who find the whole idea abhorrent. But it's unlikely.

So, I've finally done it. I've made an InsaneJournal account. It's very similar to livejournal, except crazy-people themed. Like, "communities" are called "asylums," and my "profile" is "my diagnosis." This kinda stuff actually cracks me up, but I actually find some puns humorous, so don't go by me.

I only made the account to follow and post in Scans_Daily, which was my favorite livejournal community before it got the boot (I checked this community while I was out of the country and basically abandoned fandom. At that point, I understood maybe 12.8% of what was going on, but I read it ANYWAY.) and moved over to InsaneJournal.

I made my name Eldabe, because I'm actually kind tired of my totally LotR-specific lj name, but I wanted them connected. So I abbreviated it, like any good manga fan. (Dybree anyone? No one gets that reference.) I like it because as far as I can tell, it doesn't mean anything. A google check just turns up this random law firm over and over again. So, anyway: eldabe.insanejournal.com.

I probably will never post there, and I'm not moving. But I did get to put an icon there that I never managed to use with my lj.

Anytime I need a random number to exaggerate something ("I've been doing this for ___ days!" "You've tried that ____ times already, give it up!") I use the number 52. Let me stress every time.

For those of you not in the know, 52 was the name of a weekly comic book DC put out a while ago, that I followed pretty closely until the end. It was all cute and clever, because there are 52 weeks in a year, and the story was to take place in (or at lease close to) "real time". Every issue covered a week and the series would cover a whole year.

The point is that I am unable to generate any other large number off the top of my head anymore. Good job, DC.

I understand that in the internet, people tend to only read opinions that they agree with. This is particularly notable in politics, where you will get together with all of the other people that agree with you, make a website, promote a candidate, get lots of hits and think that you're really reaching out to people when it's really just all those other people who agree with everything you say finding your website to make themselves feel better. Internet phenomenon.

I totally understand that. So while I don't agree with everything I read in the various forums and communities that I lurk at, I certainly agree with most of the common sentiments. And I'm mostly involved in comic book fandom, so it's mostly me reading about the horrible decisions of Didio and Quesada and how they're managing to turn off a lot of readers with some of their antics.

But clearly, there are still people buying these comic books. Clearly not everyone agrees with all of the forums I'm following. So I've somehow managed to dig myself into an internet trench, where I'm only seeing the same opinions over and over.

So where are you, forums that disagree with me and are willing to spend money to prove it? Where are the people who think Battle for the Cowl was the highlight of their year, who find newly-singly Peter Parker the best plot line this side of Earth 616? Where are you, fanboys and girls that think that the emotion of love should be ladies-only? Where are you, hordes of consumers, that think Supergirl doesn't really need kidneys?

Really, I want to see what you have to say. Where are you?

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-6770-Batman-Examiner~y2009m5d22-Tony-Daniel-speaks

I needed to comment. Tony Daniel, writer of the Battle for the Cowl (which I was really excited for, for some reason) had this to say about Tim's craziness after Bruce died. "He [Tim] loved Bruce like his real father."

NO TONY, HE DIDN'T. Tim loved Bruce like a MENTOR. Tim loved Bruce like a ROLE MODEL. Tim loved Bruce like a TEACHER.

But Bruce wasn't his father. Unlike Dick and Jason, Tim spent the vast majority of his time as Robing living with his real father. Tim grew up under his father's care. Tim had a relationship with his father. I would even argue that at the point that his father died, Tim had developed an adult relationship with his father, which might be unusual for most 16-year-olds, but Tim's dad knew about him being Robin, and they dealt with that.

Sure, Bruce adopted him (don't get me started) but Bruce was never ever his father. Nor did Bruce really want to be. Bruce had a deep appreciation of real father/son relationships, and would NOT want to mess with that. Bad motivation there, Tony. That is why the scene crowbar felt so awful. There was NO good reason for it. And to be perfectly frank, having Tim imitate the Joker is just wrong. Wrongwrongwrong.

So I'm going to ignore most of BftC, stick my fingers in my ears and sings "lalalala" until it is retconned beyond recognition.

Rokk Krinn, of the planet Braal, decides to dedicate his life to becoming the best Magno-Ball player of the universe and become THE COSMIC BOY!! To realize his dream, he travels from planet to planet, playing against the best Magno-ball players and improving his magnetic control through WILLPOWER and TRAINING!

On the way he meets Garth and Imra, who help and support him on his ULTIMATE GOAL!!!

___

This would be the funniest shonen manga ever. Seriously. He could fight people and save villages, it would be like Pokemon/Naruto/Hikaru no Go/Bleach but better!

I like Geoff Johns a lot, actually. He's a crazy fanboy, and sometimes I think that crazy fanboys shouldn't be given certain properties (LET THE CHARACTERS DO NEW THINGS, STOP REHASHING) but as comic books are an increasingly niche medium full of people that go "YAY" over cameos and sly winks from the writers (guilty!) that's going to happen anyway. And I really do like a lot of his stories.

But...he's going to be writing Superboy. And while I understand that character growth mean that my favorite Superboys of look-I-have-my-own-series-and-control-my-own-life and the Young Justice incarnation are irrevocably gone.

But his name is KON-EL. Not Conner. First of all, there's already a Connor in the DCU (Green Arrow II) and secondly, he didn't use Conner as his pseudonym last time he went undercover, there's no reason for him to do it now. (There's also no reason for him to be forced to conform to the life of a normal teen - he's not normal, he never was. Conner is his secret identity, Superboy is his real identity (reverse of Clark/Superman and he lived for years on his own before suddenly being forced into the teen pidgeonhole.)

Yes, this is a ridiculous pet peeve of mine. Yes, I need to let it go, there are much bigger problems in comic books.

It just drives me SOOO crazy.

Also, Batgirl.

http://comics.ign.com/articles/983/983030p1.html

I'm not saying that you can't expand the Bat-franchise if you want to, DC. In fact, it's been done successfully before. But you have a very bad habit of trying to revert to the silver age status quo constantly, you have mishandled/ignored/killed MANY of the Batfamily expansion pack, and (someone needs to say this) Gotham is JUST ONE CITY. It shouldn't need quite this many heroes, honestly. If we're really supposed to believe the Bludhaven pitch, I think a couple of heroes should migrate down the turnpike and help out there (if it's not still an irradiated mess. Don't get me started.)

So really, DC, stop this right now. Your time would be better spent building up some of the Wonder Woman cast so we can really believe you when you sell the "Trinity" concept to me. 'Cause I'm not buying it (LITERALLY).

Plus, what exactly are you planning to do with Cass anyway?

So, it looks like Barbara might stay as Oracle and not become Batgirl. I say "might" because I still have to wait for the new Batgirl series to confirm. (and besides, comics are a tenuous balance. Four years down the line, someone might decide that Barbara!Batgirl is a great idea)

At this point, I also feel the need to mention that Cassandra Cain is an EXCELLENT Batgirl, and I have no clue why DC seems to think otherwise. She's got insane potential, a cool backstory, DCU credibility, and lots of fun stories to retcon! (I'm not kidding. Someone please retcon the whole "drugged by Slade" story. PLEASE.)

I feel the need to post now, publicly, an idea that just hit me. I have a mega-post that I'm building on DC and the huge, untapped comic readership out there, but I want this published so I can say I thought of it when: DC should make a manga-esque, all-ages, non-canonical Batgirl comic. For serious. Will expand later.

So, for the first time in my life, I set up an RSS feed for myself. It's already crowded, and I started it a few minutes ago.

For my friends: An RSS feed (or Really Simple Syndication Feed) is just a program that basically checks all the websites that you read and collects all the updates on those sites.

Example: On livejournal, you could go to each friend's individual blog page and read it, or you could become "friends" with them, and then click on the "friends" link on your blog and see all of your friend's updates. Their updates have become syndicated for you.

Now, an RSS feed is that, just a little more complicated. Mine currently has a few blogs and a bunch of webcomics. I'm considering adding podcasts, but I really just use iTunes for that, so it doesn't seem worth it.

I'm using the googlereader RSS thingy, which comes free with every google/gmail account you have! So, it's really easy to use and already set up for me and such. I'll see how it goes.