Giving back to the man who gave us an Oracle

I'm not sure how many of you know the name John Ostrander. He, along with his wife, are responsible for - among many other things - Barbara Gordon being Oracle.

To quote Wikipedia and Gail Simone . . .

"Following the release of the graphic novel, comic book editor and writer Kim Yale discussed how distasteful she found the treatment of Barbara Gordon with her husband, fellow comic writer John Ostrander. Rather than allow the character to fall into obscurity, the two decided to revive her as a character living with a disability." - Wikipedia's entry on Barbara Gordon

"Kim Yale and John Ostrander picked up the character and made her into a brilliant master computer operator and one of the most fascinating characters in comics." - Gail Simone



And coming from Gail Simone, well, 'nuff said.

Also, he's the mind behind the classic comic book known as Suicide Squad. Deadshot and Amanda Waller wouldn't be running around the DCU being awesome (or at least awesomely morally ambiguous). Essentially? Without John Ostrander, we'd have had no Birds of Prey. No Checkmate. No Secret Six.



Hell, innumerable other additions to the DCU would be non-existent without his influence.

Tragically, the man who helped create and champion the world's first superheroine living proudly with a disability now needs your help. Thanks to Kevin Church, I've learned that Mr. Ostrander is currently losing his sight to glaucoma. One can only imagine how crippling this is for someone who works in the field of graphic novels. Luckily, you can help him keep his sight.

Look, guys, I know times are tough right now but it's the man who helped create Oracle and Amanda Waller. Hell, I'm having Ramen for dinner most of this week. That said, I still managed to at least throw a measly dollar his way today. Please, help out Mr. Ostrander with a donation, however small. Sorry to preach at you but it's just the right thing to do.

One last quote, this time from John Ostrander himself on Oracle:

". . . we knew that others with disabilities might look at her [Oracle] and feel good reading about her . . . These shouldn't be stories about a disabled person; they are stories about a compelling fascinating character who HAPPENS to be in a wheelchair and I think that's correct. Barbara isn't her handicap; there's more to her than that."

Calling All Superheroines

Time for a quick poll!

Given my recent popularity, vis a vis my slightly ranty discussion about how I felt Birds of Prey went a bit south of Helsinki, I've been mulling over what works and what doesn't when writing a superheroine in comics. So, in that light, I've got two questions for you . . .



Who are your favorite superheroines?



And, if you feel like expounding a bit, why?




I'll go first. In no particular order: Jessica Jones, She-Hulk, Emma Frost, Catwoman, Huntress, Black Widow, Black Canary, Wonder Woman, Fire, Ice, Molly Hayes, Power Girl, Oracle, The Question and the ladies of Gen13 (but particularly Caitlin Fairchild and Roxy Spaulding).



As a rule, I'm a fan of any superheroine who is complex, strong, interesting from a psychological perspective and perhaps overly fond of kicking ass. If they actively deconstruct and add a gray area to the very "superheroine" conceit, bonus points (hello Jessica Jones, Emma Frost, et al). I especially dig cerebral superheroines, particularly if their intelligence supersedes all the qualities listed above (I'm still waiting for someone other than Gail Simone and Adam Warren to dig into the diamond in the rough that is Caitlin Fairchild, for instance).



Anyways, contrasts, power and drive create interesting characters of any kind and the fictional women listed above don't lack for that. Well, save maybe Ice and Molly Hayes (in terms of contrasts), but it's nice to have at least two characters who are both genuinely sweet while remaining undoubtedly kick-ass.



Feel free to ask me to expand on my love of any of these characters or, if you like, to let me know why you just flat-out loathe them*. But seriously, let me know - which superheroines are your favorites?



*And yes, a post on why I think Emma Frost is incredibly interesting and why Scott and Emma's relationship tickles me is still coming along. Actually, I think I may expand my posts on her to a a first-ever Theme Week, if anyone would be interested.

¡Viva Mexicanos En Los Libros Cómicos!

¡Hola, cada uno! No quisiera que el mes de mayo fuera cerca sin la celebración de Cinco De Mayo, al menos tardío (muy, MUY tardío).

Pensé de dar una revisión del Escarabajo Azul #26 pero realmente, así que mucha otra gente ha hecho así pues, yo se sentiría redundante en hacer tan. ¡Más, usted puede resumir la edición en una palabra - excelente! No cuido si usted odió el "truco supuesto" del tener caracteres Mexicanos en Español de discurso del Mexicano - si la imagen de Jamie que volaba a su abuela alrededor en el extremo del libro cómico no pudo hacerle mueca como un idiota, usted es interior muerto.

¡Así pues, en vez de pasear sobre cómo el Escarabajo Azul impresionante está en español, en lugar de otro enumeraré a mis Cinco Super Héroes Hispánicos Preferidos! ¡Ole!

Cinco - Victor Mancha de "Fugitivos"



¿Por qué Victor? Bien, para los arrancadores, él viola estereotipos siendo elegante al punto de ser un pedacito de un empollón, se refresca en una crisis y una mitad-robusteza. Lo encuentro inmenso el restaurar que hemos venido suficientemente lejos que, en un equipo de adolescentes californianos, el hothead con el switchblade es el individuo rubio blanco.

Más, hey, energías frescas de la robusteza y una referencia velada de Don Quijote! ¡Consiguió amar eso!


Cuatro - Echo / Ronin - Maya López.



Mientras que no estoy terrible encariñado con el origen familiar del crimen, la habilidad artística de David Mack hizo que ama este carácter. Sí, sé que ella es básicamente poco más que un Taskmaster de la muchacha, pero cuál es original sobre ella es su opción de la ropa. Al ingenio: ¡ELLA USA LA ROPA! ¡Armadura llena, incluso! ¿Cómo raro es eso para un superheroine del cómic? Sordo, schmeff, pienso que el uso de las opciones lógicas de la ropa la pone en una lista incluso más corta que ésta.

Tres - Escarabajo Azul - Jamie Reyes



¡Como dicen en México - Duh! ¿Necesito realmente explicar cómo es impresionante Jamie Reyes? ¿Un adolescente mexicano elegante, responsable quién quiere ser dentista cuando él crece? Significo, me adelanto. Usted SABE es el Escarabajo Azul impresionante. Incluso no tengo que decirle ahora.

Para decirle la verdad, él me recuerda un poco de me detrás cuando era un adolescente - nerdy, respetuoso a las mujeres y a la datación totalmente una bruja del malo-asno. Ah, memorias.

Dos - Linterna Verde - Kyle Rayner



Usted puede ser que no sepa este pero Kyle Rayner es apenas como mí - Mitad-Mexicano, Mitad-Irlandés, El 100% Impresionante.

Herencia Irlandés-Mexicana a un lado, él soy siempre sido mi favorito GL, para su creatividad visual y tendencias dorky ocasionales. De hecho, Kyle Rayner es uno de tres héroes de la D.C. que me presentaron a los tebeos de la D.C. en general en los años 90 - pero es uno poste del S.A. de por sí.

Apenas deseo que él hubiera conseguido su anillo en alguna parte mejor que un callejón trasero al lado de un borracho. Oh, bien. Supongo que es mejor que un lavabo público.

Número Uno - Hombre-Araña 2099 - Miguel O'Hara.



¿Obscuro? Quizá. Pero déjeme dicen le, las señoras y los caballeros, este asno Irlandés-Mexicano ficticio de los retrocesos, y su origen didn' t tiene cualquier cosa hacer con las robustezas, los anillos extranjeros o los servicios públicos. Un genetista brillante, Miguel O'Hara consigue su DNA Irlandés-Mexicana combinada con la DNA de la araña, debido a un compañero de trabajo celoso que intenta matarlo. Consecuentemente, él debe pasar los restos de la vida que guardan a la compañía malvada que él trabaja para que de intentar lo capture y utilice su DNA como su " property" intelectual;. También, él hace totalmente el hombre araña 2099 del golpear-asno.

Debo admitir que no muchos de los caracteres de la Maravilla 2099 dejaron una impresión duradera. No obstante, pienso a Miguel O'Hara y su molde de apoyo merecen ser recordados. Él era inventivo, brillante y un combatiente de vez en cuando vicioso, que cavé. El más, hizo yo menciona su costume' ¿s a partir de un día de la celebración muerta? ¡Puntos de prima! (En una nota no-Mexicana, él también tiene un contestador automático olográfico del AI. Quiero un contestador automático olográfico, la maldición del AI él.)

Más importante, él era el primer super héroe mexicano en un cómico yo leyó que didn' las palabras al azar del grito de t de frases españolas o trilladas tienen gusto del " ¡Ay yi yi! " o " ¡Dios Mio! " (Estoy mirando le, Rictor y El Relámpago Vivo).

¡Tan levantemos un vidrio al Hombre-Araña 2099 y el resto de super héroes mexicanos no-stereotypical en tebeos! ¡Pueden de largo reinan!

¡Contenido del vídeo de la prima!



Things you can tell from this Video without knowing a word of Spanish:

- A man in a lion hair vest with a thick mustache smelling the tablecloth while looking for someone? Almost too creepy for a kids' show.

- Rich people are stupid.

- Spider-Man is kind of an asshole to anyone he dates.

- Highly paid biologists take the bus, even when somebody they love might be dying. Why? Because being eco-friendly is IMPORTANT, dammit.

- Knowing Spider-Man is a bad idea. Always, always avoid Spider-Man whenever possible.

14 Comic Book Couples I Love - Part 14

So, in honor of the upcoming holiday of St. Valentine, I've decided to post some very specific content. As if the title didn't make it abundantly clear, I'm going to roll out 14 different comic book couples whose relationships I love between here and Chocolate & Flowers Retailer Day. At heart, after all, I am the world's dorkiest romantic . . . even though Valentine's Day is just a cold, humorless marketing shill designed by greedy cynics and therefore about as romantic as wet socks- GAH!

Sorry. That just had to get let out before I continue.

Now, not all of these are my favorite characters, necessarily, but I just like the relationships as written. And don't worry - I'm not the sort who screams "OTP!!1!" and rains hellfire down on you if you have a preferred pairing of the following with another character (Okay, maybe I'm a little bit that way about some of these but I'll reign it in). In any case, I don't think anybody's going to have that particular problem with my first couple . . .

14. Monsieur Mallah and The Brain



Ah, Comics. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. :D



Now, I tend to think it's nifty when anybody puts a gay romantic pairing in a comic, unless it's just for cheap shock value or titillation. But a gay relationship between a talking French Gorilla and a talking Brain in a Cylindrical Robot Body? I feel you all must agree with me that this is Effin' GENIUS.



I have only read but a few comics containing these lovebirds but the mere fact of their cracktastic existence puts them on this list of Comics Couples I Love. Plus, near as I can tell, they've maintained a very long-term relationship (give or take a few spats), which is a rarity for supervillains.





Now, I know what you're thinking - "What the hell, Bryan? This is a pretty obscure pairing." or maybe "A mantastic cyborg and gorilla love affair is what you think of when you think of LOVE? Really?" or even "FAP FAP FAP FAP FAP".
. . . if it's that last one, please leave my blog. Right now.
But hey, the best part about this is that they've been broadcast in several countries! Only thanks to comics could a gay Brain in a Robot Jar and his French Gorilla soulmate became animated as part of a popular cartoon for kids:



Ain't love beautiful?



BONUS VIDEO CONTENT!

While this has little to do with man gorilla on man brain love, I find this song of monkey love and SCIENCE to be both necessary and good. Enjoy!

Rambling Reviews for 1/10/08

This Week In Review - Our heroes fail to beat up Nazis in the Past, Different Concentration Camp Operators in the Future, Symbiotes in the Present, a Blonde Guy in A Blue Suit and, most heinously, Someone Who Thinks That Reality Television is an Art Form.

No! Not The Spoilers! NOT THE SPOILERS! AIIIGH, They're In My eyes!

The Twelve #1 - J. Michael Straczynski & Chris Weston - B+

Wow. That's a grand opener.

For those of you who haven't heard of this comic, it's the story of 12 Marvel WWII superheroes, both meta and non, who get put into suspended animation by skeevy Nazi scientists. The Nazis are killed by Commies before they can enact their evil plans, leaving these Marvel Golden Age sorts frozen. They're found and woken up 60 years later in 2008, without our friend Captain America around to help them with culture shock. A depressed General not only offers them all the money they want but asks them to be superheroes again in a world that's gone messy and ugly. A flashforward in the last two pages suggests this naive plan will not go so well. It's a trifle Watchmen-esque but that's by no means a bad thing.

The art is lovely and full of little details. Nazi Supervilains in portrait form, details on coins and ears, and oh, the differences in people's eyebrows. It's a sad sign that I'm so easy to please but I dug the attention to detail a lot.

The comic loses some points for having just one female character, Black Widow (no, not that one. Or the other one), who subsequently gets groped by skeevy Commander Nazi Scientist while she's out cold. On the other hand, her power, her look and her origin do seem rather bad-ass. This original Black Widow gained the power to kill evil men with just a touch by making a pact with THE DEVIL. \m/
. . . Which maybe just goes to show people that I find a 90's style origin in 40's style clothes to be strangely cool. Maybe I'm lame. *hangs head in shame*

X-Factor 27 - Peter David & Scott Eaton - C-

I am very displeased by this crossover nonsense. It's like shoehorning 2/3'ds of the Lord of the Rings movies into Double Indemnity.

Let me start by saying that I usually love X-Factor. Film noir is one of my favorite genres. I can relate to Jamie Madrox's internal struggles and self-doubt. The characters are all messy, complicated and secretive. They're the outcasts who live in the real world while the Mansion Mutants have their high soap operas. Until recently, the word 'superheroes' hasn't even really applied to these characters, which I kind of love.

And then there's Layla. Layla Miller is one of the most compulsively interesting characters created in recent memory. Put aside her intriguing power and ability to creep out people way more powerful than her - she's a non-sexualized teen girl who's often more self-sufficient than the adults around her. Christ, she's like the Anti-Supergirl.

If I had kids, I like to think they'd turn out like her - self-sufficient, smart, unique and funny. Of course, if they were my kids, they'd also end up annoying the crap out of people and being smart-asses. So again, I totally love Layla Miller.

. . . In this issue, she just blew herself and Jamie up with a grenade while in an alternate future that may or may not exist, leaving her dead at worst or stranded at best. Jamie wakes up and this means another of my favorite characters is left with a stupid facial tattoo which marks him as the victim of an idiotic crossover. The solicitation copy for future issues of X-Factor implies that Layla may come back but I'm not holding my breath. Bastards.

Really, the only reason this issue gets more than a D- is because Wolverine stabs that Lady Mastermind girl - who's so horribly disproportionate it makes my eyes bleed - right through the torso, just underneath where she's using double-sided tape to keep her ridiculous implants in place. Plus, it looks like Mystique's killed Mr. Sinister, so at least there's one less villain in the world I can fail to take seriously because of their name. Hooray!


The Mighty Avengers #7 - Brian Michael Bendis & Mark Bagley - B-

Look, Bendis my friend - I like decompression done right. I do. I like superheroes talking to one another when they're not hitting people. Really, I do. I know you probably tired yourself out with all that awesome punching of robots and shrinking of Greek Gods and kick-ass what-not in the last arc. You could and should take a breather. It even makes sense story-wise.

But really, man - if you show me a promo of Wolverine getting possessed by a Venom symbiote three months ago? Then give me a cover where Symbiotes are eating the Avengers? Don't give me a comic beyond that cover wherein Tony Stark and your imaginary girlfriend Spider-Girl play the "who's a Skrull, where's a Skrull" game for 11 pages of my 22 page comic . . . with just 4 measly pages of symbiotes.

The baby symbiote was awesome, though, I give you that. Plus, points for Wonder Man going back to the "W" uniform instead of the red leisure suit and Wasp being snitty about it. That was fun. If you will please stop writing Ares like the guy that girls warn each other about in High School, all will be forgiven by next issue.

The Boys #14 - Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson - A-

I've been so wordy in my other reviews that I feel the need to break this down for you in speed form. Here's a short form version of things that happen inside, so you can decide if this is the comic for you:

- An overweight, hairy Russian Superhero cannot run fast due to his erection in constricting spandex pants.
- A man who looks like Simon Pegg from Sean of the Dead makes a man cry at his feet in fear.
- Heads attached to garishly clad would-be supervillains explode en masse.
- An evil blonde guy in a blue suit fails to get punched in the face.
- And a plane is destroyed with an exploding vibrator.

Yes, yes, this is my guilty pleasure comic. Darick Robertson's one of my favorite artists, OKAY?

I'm sorry.
Sort of.
Okay, not really.

Gen 13 #16 - Simon Oliver & Sunny Lee - A

Who is Simon Oliver and how did he get so good?

Back when I was in High School, I loved the goofy adventures of Gen 13 and so did all my friends. Hell, I still want a stuffed Queelocke. But the one adjective I never thought I'd apply to Gen 13 back then was "cerebral". Adam Warren, Gail Simone and now Simon Oliver have proved me wrong. Crazy, stupid, it's-not-even-funny wrong.

Caitlin Fairchild has always fascinated me as a character because of what's so often left unsaid by her. With the exception of Simone and to a lesser degree, Warren, nobody's touched on how her unwilling transformation from plain nerd to over exaggerated caricature affected/relates to her self-esteem or self-image. In every book with a good writer, she's been written as aggressively intelligent and naive but that's been the upward limit of her personality.

In the course of this story and the recent reboot in general, the Gen 13 teens are made aware that they were preprogrammed, manufactured genetic products, created by a lunatic. Every one of their cells was designed for a purpose by someone else, which is something that seriously fucks with their heads.

Of course, when they arrive in New York, each character runs away to embrace the new people they meet as an escape from this inescapable truth, unaware that their movements and friendships are being recorded by IO as part of a scam. The reality TV loving asshat I mentioned way, way above in the title of this post is the maestro and happy as a clam . . . except for the problem presented by Caitlin. Fairchild can't help but overthink everything, which is both her saving grace and her downfall. She's the polar opposite of this version of Grunge (whom I love as being as smart as Caitlin, if not smarter in this iteration - just of a totally different philosophy).

Caitlin figures out men are secretly filming her - for reasons other than the obvious one of her being a ginormously endowed redhead in a spandex top. While I assume she hasn't bought normal clothes like the others because of her justifiable paranoia, this was the one glaringly false note in the issue. Alas, nobody will listen to her and later on, in another twist I didn't see coming, we get to realize that DV8 may be sneaking into the story as well. DV8 was my introduction to Warren Ellis and therefore has a warm spot in my dark, cold heart. So, as you can guess, this pleases me greatly.

This is also a comic where one person uses a chainsaw and another quotes a poem by Shelley. Pure rockage, folks.

Seriously, pick this series up from the beginning while you still have a chance to find the trades or cheap back issues.