Monday, July 06, 2009

Panel Discussion: Scans from Secret Six, Marvel Divas, Batman and Robin, and More

Best Art - Frank Quitely, Batman and Robin #2
The action scenes in this book by drawn by Frank Quitley bring the effects of the Batverse regime change into sharper focus than several books worth of philosophizing, angsty conversations, and images of Dick starring at the cowl. The fights in this book show that a clean, simple switch has taken place; Batman is now the showboaty, eager to prove himself fighter, and Robin is now the self-assured, methodical heavy-hitter. It's madness!

The Robin in the splash panel above could only be Damian Wayne. He's not displaying any of the flash or childish excitement that every other kid to brought to being being Batman's sidekick. Damian's form is straight-up Black Ops. He's is an assassin in superhero's clothing, and this panel nails that dissonance.

Meanwhile, seeing Dick in the Batsuit makes you realize how damn HEAVY Bruce's style really was. Seeing Batman move with this sort of grace is exciting, because it's been so rare up to this point.

Also, I don't think I'll ever get tired of these art-integrated sound effects, especially when they have to do with Damian getting forcibly implanted into a wall. Nerd!

George Bush doesn't care about black Superheroes, hating on the Justice League, and a spoiler for Secret Six #11, after the jump...

Orson Welles Award for Emphasis Fail - Justice League: Cry for Justice #1
BOLDING certain words in comic book scripts is just something we've all learned to live with. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. Let's just reflect on what the bolds are trying to convey in this conversation.

GA: This is BAD.
BA: HOW do you know?
GA: I know WHEN Hal gets like this - things happen.

By emphasizing "how" we can only interpret Dinah's reaction as "Yes, I also know this is bad, but it's really the methodology of how Ollie came to his conclusion that I'm interested in." And when Ollie emphasizes "when", he's trying to convey....I actually have no idea how you could justify that emphasis choice. Say it out loud. It's insane. PS: This award is in honor of THIS classic meme, which I believe actually predates the internet!

Social Inequity Alert - Marvel Divas #1
I'm primarily a DC reader, so I always feel a little jarred when the Marvel uni starts talking about things that happened in our real, Earth Prime timeline. Here Captain Marvel (???) recounts how after Katrina hit, she and some other black superheroes went to New Orleans to clean up "the mess you white people left behind". One might question why in a world with superheroes, an American city could have flooded with such horrible consequences in the first place. Maybe at the time the supes were like, "Oh a Hurricane is going to decimate New Orleans? Eh, as long as there's no death ray involved, I'm sure the Government norms can deal with it."

Worst Use of Powers - Secret Six #11
I love Secret Six, and I really, really love Scandal Savage, but she's really not making her powers work for her. She's basically Wolverine, except no one is particularly afraid of her so people are constantly surprising her by shooting her in the face and stabbing her in the stomach just because they can. I mean sure, she heals, but it's not instantainious, so for a few minutes she always ends up bleeding on the ground. It's just terribly undignified.

However, this is the second issue in the last few months in which we've seen Scandal in boyshorts, so whatever, Secret Six; it's all good.


Slash Alert - Justice League: Cry For Justice #1
"What's there to say? Kiss me, you fool!"

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