DC Comics
Say It With Manga – International Collaborations Edition
I could go into the whole “manga-inspired comics” debate, but I really don’t want to, as I like good manga no matter where it comes from. One of my current favorites, in fact, is a series of self-published doujinshi drawn by Jo Chen. Thankfully, manga-style comics from other countries are much more widely accepted today, as Yen Press has an entire line of domestically-produced manga adaptations of YA novels that I suspect does quite well. There are still many purists and older fans that insist manga can only come from Japan, however. This article covers three series that are, in theory, the best of both worlds. All three are drawn by Japanese artists (in two instances, very well-established Japanese artists), and all three were serialized in Japanese anthology magazines, the origin of all manga released in Japan. But all three were written by non-Japanese authors. Sadly, none of these are terribly stand-out series, but that the collaboration exists at all is quite interesting to me.
She Has No Head! – 6 Stupid Superheroine Designs That Need Redesign, Stat!
A few weeks ago I wrote about 6 recent superheroine redesigns that I loved. People went, expectedly, nuts, even though there was nothing particularly dramatic or 
mind blowing about the piece. Y’know, unless things like opinion pieces send you into a blind rage. Anyway, I had always planned to write a companion piece about 6 superheroine costumes that are in desperate need of an overhaul. Then Iron Man 3 came out and Pepper Potts rocked the hell out of things, so I wanted to write about that. Then Robot 6 linked to the redesign post, which stirred things up again, and now here we are, a couple weeks later, ready to possibly break the damn internet again with me talking about something as simple as some costumes that suck and need to be redesigned (for a variety of reasons).
The only caveat for the post is I’ve tried to stick to costumes that are currently being used, independent of when they were designed.
So, prepare to get pissed about all the completely non-anger inducing thoughts of one person’s opinion about some superheroine costumes. I’ll be honest; the only thing tough about this list was keeping it to 6 (which I sort of didn’t do).
However, we took it one step further this week! Because I am an incredibly fortunate person who knows a bunch of badass professional artists, the fantastic Kris Anka and Meredith McClaren generously volunteered to spend some of their free time redesigning the ladies on my list.
And because you’re here reading this, you too benefit from all that good fortune…fortune for everyone!
Comic Book Legends Revealed #407
Welcome to the four hundred and seventh in a series of examinations of comic book legends and whether they are true or false. Click here for an archive of the previous four hundred and six. This week, did William Marston’s boss really have to order him to reduce the amount of times Wonder Woman was tied up with chains by 50%? Did DC Comics really try to stop a cricket company from trademarking the term “Batsman”? And who was the Peanuts character who was followed around by a cloud?
Let’s begin!
3 Chicks Review Comics – Episode 048
Hey! It’s our 48th episode!
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN, DOWNLOAD, AND/OR SUBSCRIBE TO ITUNES NOW.
Inside this episode! We have an advance review of Jeremy Whitley and Emily Martin’s Princeless #1 (from the second mini-series coming in February – pre-order now!) and Kelly Sue DeConnick and Stephano Caselli’s Avengers Assemble #10. Our interview with Renae De Liz seems to have fallen through – but please go check out her Kickstarter for a fantastic Peter Pan Adaptation, which is in its final days and already super successful! For our hot topic we discuss Gail Simone leaving Batgirl, and possibly all of DC, and what these continued bad decisions mean for us as DC readers. Chick of the Week, for a variety of reasons (including super appropriate timing) is Karen Berger. We take a few minutes to promote some stuff we’re up to, Sue talks about the Toys For Tots contest she’s running on DC Women Kicking Ass full of insanely awesome prizes. Sue is also being featured on the Bleeding Cool “Personality of 2012″ poll – we’re split on whether it’s a good thing or not…so vote…or don’t…? We’re not sure! Kelly reminds people that The Girl Who Would Be King is available for sale digitally on Amazon (only $2.99!) and limited edition hardbacks and swag are available directly through Kelly (email her at: 1979semifinalist[at]gmail[dot]com), but if you want your books before the holidays – you must order today – Monday 12/17/12!
Here are the breaks:
Princeless #1 Advance Review – 00:59
Avengers Assemble #10 – 8:45
Hot Topic! – 19:20
Chick of the Week – 36:12
3 Chicks Review Comics is a podcast featuring female comics lovers and bloggers Sue from DC Women Kicking Ass and Kelly Thompson from She Has No Head! Tune in to CSBG every other Monday at noon as we review comics and discuss hot topics of the week. In addition to the blogs above, you can also follow us all on twitter as well: Kelly and Sue. Special thanks to Nik Furious for our awesome 3 Chicks theme song.
*As always beware of spoilers if you haven’t read the books in question! Advance reviews are always spoiler-free!
3 Chicks Review Comics – Episode 043
Hey! It’s our 43rd episode!
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN, DOWNLOAD, AND/OR SUBSCRIBE TO ITUNES NOW.
Inside this episode! We have an advance review of Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth’s Stumptown #1 and Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye #2. We then have an awesome interview with Greg Rucka talking about Stumptown, Lazarus, Punisher, his time at DC – including the scoop on what actually caused him to leave DC, the new Wonder Woman pilot, and everything else we can think of! Chick of The Week this week is a long overlooked lady who is having a hard time in recent months at DC – Lois Lane!
Here are the breaks:
Stumptown #1 – 01:00
Hawkeye #2 – 08:43
Greg Rucka Interview – 24:15
Chick of The Week (plus Wonder Woman talk and a few other goodies) – 108:48
3 Chicks Review Comics is a podcast featuring female comics lovers and bloggers Sue from DC Women Kicking Ass and Kelly Thompson from She Has No Head! Tune in to CSBG every other Monday at noon as we review comics and discuss hot topics of the week. In addition to the blogs above, you can also follow us all on twitter as well: Kelly and Sue. Special thanks to Nik Furious for our awesome 3 Chicks theme song.
*As always beware of spoilers if you haven’t read the books in question!
3 Chicks Review Comics – Episode 040
Hey! It’s our 40th episode!
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN, DOWNLOAD, AND/OR SUBSCRIBE TO ITUNES NOW.
Inside this episode! We review Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Amanda Conner’s digital release Ame-Comi Wonder Woman #1 with wonderful colors by Paul Mounts; Jeff Lemire and Mikel Janin’s Justice League Dark #9. We then have an oversized installment talking with writer Kelly Sue DeConnick about her upcoming project Captain Marvel as well as her reboot of Ghost for Dark Horse with Phil Noto, and an upcoming creator owned project with Emma Rios! We also geek out about The Avengers movie, speculate on The Dark Knight Rises, and talk about writing for different artists! For Chick of the Week this week I choose the uber-talented (and delightful) Stephanie Hans, who I’ve now had the pleasure of working with twice and can’t even express how wonderful it has been. I get all tongue-tied even. We also chat about the Alan Scott reveal and Hunger Games and how closet (and not so closet) racism and homophobia still depress the crap out of us.
Links! Ame-Comi Wonder Woman #1, Justice League Dark #9 CBR Review, Stephanie Hans Shop, The Girl Who Would Be King, Womanthology, Called It!,
Here are the breaks:
Ame-Comi Wonder Woman #1 – 00:33
Justice League: Dark #9 – 16:20
Kelly Sue DeConnick Interview – 29:00
Chick of the Week (and more!) – 136:00
3 Chicks Review Comics is a podcast featuring female comics lovers and bloggers Sue from DC Women Kicking Ass and Kelly Thompson from She Has No Head! Tune in to CSBG every other Monday at noon as we review comics and discuss hot topics of the week. In addition to the blogs above, you can also follow us all on twitter as well: Kelly and Sue. Special thanks to Nik Furious for our awesome 3 Chicks theme song.
*As always beware of spoilers if you haven’t read the books in question!
She Has No Head! – 25 Great Superheroine Covers of the Past Year
Rogue by Kaare Andrews
I originally intended to pair this column with my “25 Great Superheroine Moments In Comics” post from two weeks ago in honor of Women’s History Month, but then Wonder Woman #7 happened and I felt compelled to write about that. So here we are with the unofficial “part two” in April. So it goes!
Those of you familiar with my blogging over on 1979 Semi-Finalist know I’m a big cover fanatic. I do a monthly post called “Drunk Cover Solicits In Three Sentences Or Less” where I…you guessed it…get drunk and talk about the newest Marvel and DC Cover Solicits. It’s supposed to be a chance to talk about some gorgeous art and also to make good-natured fun of some of the silliness…of course some rage occasionally seeps out (shocker). I also do a “52 Best Covers of the Year” in honor of SDCC every year. But I realized recently that I’d never focused on covers that feature women and thought what better way to celebrate than to do that here.
My criteria was looking at covers from between March of 2011 and March of 2012* and only at saddle-stapled monthly comics that feature a woman as a minimum of 50% of the cover focus. These are entirely North American as that’s primarily what I have access to. I didn’t include trades or graphic novels either. I’m not going to write much about each, just a few lines about what I love about them. Enjoy!
She Has No Head! – Is the Destruction of The Amazons The Destruction of Feminism in DC Comics?
I drafted Wonder Woman #7 for my CBR reviews last week not knowing what the issue was 
about, and it resulted in the toughest review I’ve had to write for CBR yet. To CBR’s credit, though the review skewed a bit editorial, they ran it. However, we have strict word counts over there and I have many thoughts and feelings…so here we are on She Has No Head! five days later.
I have loved and supported the new Wonder Woman under Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang. I supported this book vehemently even when I did not agree with all the choices they made — like Wonder Woman being Zeus’ daughter and thus a demi-god — because I understand that writers have to do things that are unpopular sometimes in order to tell the best story. And in fact, doing something unpopular can often be the right thing to do. In addition to that, I also understand that stories are not tailor made FOR ME, and I don’t expect them to be. So I accepted the changes as many fans did and continued to read, and frankly to love, so much of what Azzarello and Chiang were doing.
She Has No Head! – 25 Great Superheroine Moments
My good friend and fellow blogger and podcaster, Sue from DC Women Kicking Ass has a great new tumblr site up called…well, I’m just going to call it THIS!
The site is all about finding 
those great moments for women in superhero comics…you know the ones…the ones that leave you with goose bumps, that leave you breathless, that leave you in love. The site is open to submissions from anyone, which is only fair as we all have different definitions of what inspires us from women in superhero comics. And what better month for a post like this than March – Women’s History Month.
Inspired by Sue’s efforts I thought I’d do a piece about some of the moments that have meant the most to me over my years of reading. I make no argument that these are the “best ever” moments…just that they’re the moments that have curled my toes. Which ones curled yours? Let me know, and better yet, submit your own over on THIS!
Word of warning – if you haven’t read the story I’m talking about, be careful of spoilers!
Click to enbiggen on any image!
Random Thoughts!… with Bill Reed!? (June 7, 2011)
Random Hijack! Yes, I am stealing Chad Nevett’s bit for a week whilst he takes a hiatus from this column. Yes, this is all Travis Pelkie’s fault. It’s Random Thoughts time! Get excited! (Or don’t. It’s really up to you. This is a free country.)
She Has No Head! – Caanan Grall’s Celadore
Celadore 1. Caanan Grall (writer/artist/creator). DC Comics/Zuda. Softcover. Full Color. 192 pages. $14.99
Many Comics Should Be Good readers are well familiar with Eisner nominated Caanan Grall’s work, as he delivers amazing entries each week in Brian’s Line It Is Drawn series. We are weekly treated to Grall’s massive creativity and superb execution in his handling of those mash-ups, as well as his 100% delightful web series Max Overacts, and so few will be surprised to find that Grall’s first major story, Celadore, is chock full of creativity, laughs, and gorgeous artwork.
Celadore, originally a web comic published by DC via their sort of defunct Zuda label, was collected as a print edition in October 2010. In fairness to DC, “Zuda Comics” is proudly displayed on the cover of Celadore…so it gives one hope that other great Zuda properties like Celadore, and perhaps even potential future properties will still find voice.
She Has No Head! – Ladies Comics Project, Part 3
Welcome to Part 3, and the final installment of this iteration of The Ladies Comics Project in which a handful of my family, friends, and colleagues (both those familiar with comics and not) read and reviewed one of the comics I purchased in September 2010. For more details about this project and more ladies reviews and feedback, go here to read Part 1 and here to read Part 2.
So after about 8 weeks of working on this project, here we are, the final installment – 437 emails, a handful of gchats, phone calls, interviews, texts, and a you tube video later – all to bring you: The Ladies Comics Project: Part 3
Illustraton for Ladies Comics Project, Part 3 by Tara O'Connor
She Has No Head! – Is Wonder Woman A Gateway Drug? Could She Be?
Caldwell's Wonder Woman from Wednesday Comics
As I mentioned recently in the comments on one of Greg Burgas’ posts, I am painfully burned out on mainstream comics right now. It’s been building for a while now, but the last four weeks have left me with a massive stack of mostly unread comic books. Sure I read a few, and I’ve flipped through most of the rest multiple times, but looking at the pile…imagining reading them…is suddenly akin to something like Chinese water torture.
This has happened to me before, a few times actually, and it generally results in me taking a sabbatical of sorts from reading mainstream books for undetermined amounts of time – only to later return with vigor (and cluelessness as to why I ever needed to take a break from something so awesome). However, this time, I find I’ve built a lot of little bits of my life around comics – my blog is regularly about comics, and I have this column, not to mention a superhero novel out on submission to publishers – so for the first time I don’t feel comfortable just walking away.
Showcase Presents: Doom Patrol Review
Somewhere along the line, I became a huge Doom Patrol geek without even noticing. Buying Morrison’s run in trade wasn’t enough for me. No, I had to track down the vastly underrated Arcudi/Huat run. I’m champing at the bit for the upcoming Giffen-penned series. And now I’ve gone and read through all 500+ pages of Showcase Presents: Doom Patrol, a lovely collection of the first 21 issues of the team’s original run by greats like Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani. Simply put, it’s the most fun I’ve ever had reading one of these phonebook-sized trades. The Onion’s AV Club, however, only gave it a C+ grade. My opinion’s a lot loftier than that.
I Don’t Like MMO Video Games…
but I do like this gallery of Flash images from the long in the making DC Universe game, which can be found at Kotaku. I especially like this one. Since I avoid MMOs like I do other addictive drugs I’ll probably never play this. Even if this screen, showing the Flash running with two player created speedsters (one of whom looks little like Speed Demon) does a good job of communicating the idea that you can interact with the DC icons.
