Wanna Get Ficced?

I just realized I'm three issues behind on "X-Factor," and two issues behind on "Nightwing," but I've caught up on other things!

In no particular order and with minimal spoilers:

( just in case )

That's all I can remember for now. You need me, I'll be doing homework yet again.

The dress is finished and looks pretty damned fabulous, if I do say so myself. There's some weird bunching in the ass area because I did my increases sort-of wrong, but it's not super noticeable, and it's not like I don't smooth my skirts all the time anyway.

I will be wearing my boots from two years ago, because it helps pick up the '60s vibe I'm trying to go for. If I can manage it, my hair will be sort of '60s pinned, with the poofy bit up top and really close in sides.

I will be wearing my Guy Gardner necklace to complete the ensemble. Because when one dresses as one's imaginary boyfriend, it's only polite.

I'm about to sit down and try to bust out a pair of fingerless gloves before bed. They're not '60s specific, but I couldn't find any actual gloves I liked, so I'm gonna make my own. They will be white, of course.

I can't find my GL ring that fits beautifully and was carted back from a con by my former comic guy, so I ended up buying a little GL trick-or-treating kit to get a ring that would fit. The ring is cheap as shit (as was the packaging, the first one I picked up just sort of disintegrated on me), but it lights up, so that's pretty awesome. Sadly, it has that awful movie design with the black band running down the sides. Why it could not have been a darker green, I do not know.

Also, if I have enough time (this is a strong maybe), I will be making myself a little yellow bag to complete the ensemble. Because that's how I roll, poozers.

And my hair is now red.

Hey, everyone, if you're reading this, it's the last post for Comic Dork Sunday, and I'm still not sure whether or not the posts are listing in the proper order on your reading pages. If you'd like to read in order, Catch up with Officer Crotch and click through using "Next Entry." (If you're on lj, follow this link and do "Next Entry" from there.)

So, last entry for this Sunday, and I'm going out with my absolute favorite book from the new DC. Yeah, GLC and GL: NG were both AWESOME, but you know what? Scott Snyder is my new comic writer boyfriend, and I am going to ride that wave of awesome for as long as I can.

Let's get spoiled, bitches!

( No, seriously, I've got eight scans and am giving away the ENTIRE first issue, including a fantastic twist. )

LOVED IT SO MUCH. I've said it a few more times today, but it bears repeating: I still have no idea how the fuck this timeline works. I imagine if I read JLA or Action Comics, it'd clear things up a little, but life is too short to read comics I don't care much about when I have all the stuff I've talked about today. There are portions of the new DC I won't touch with a ten-foot rage pole, but I wasn't planning on reading them anyway, so I sort of double-win.

This one made it onto my buy pile simply because I wanted to check out how Dick was going to be handled after the relaunch. The answer? Spectacularly. Let us look at it.

( 4 images, small spoilers )

So, really loved this one, especially when matched up with Batman, which I will cover shortly.

Okay, look, I'm not gonna pretend like the lack of Ted in the new universe doesn't make me die a little inside. So much of Ted as a character has been used in the last five or six years to build up the whole universe. Booster's never-ending (heart breaking) devotion showcased so much of him in Booster Gold. And Jaime wouldn't have been half the Beetle he was if not for Guy telling him that Ted is the guy to emulate.

But for now, Ted is no more, and Jaime is back to the start, and I'm gonna catch you up on the basics. Spoilers abound, but mostly in terms of where-are-they-now and not so much the plot (which hasn't really launched out yet).

( Five catch-up photos behind the cut )

Basically, if you skipped the scans, we're back to where we were the first time Jaime showed up on the scene with only one really noticeable change in everyone's characters. I do think they rebooted just to be able to wipe out Ted, and I am so not happy with that, but at the same time, I have always loved Jaime, and I do wonder what he'll be like without Ted's legacy as a guiding influence. But I wonder, will he and Guy have their student/mentor relationship if there's no Ted to talk about? I really liked that relationship, and I'll miss it if it's gone.

But, I will wait and see, because this was a strong first issue, and I have a lot of hope for this book.

This week's CDS is all about the new DCU. Or, more specifically, the parts of the DCU I still like. We're gonna be all over the board, and spoilers shall abound.

So, grab on Officer Crotch's crotch arm, and we'll be off for adventure!

OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD

Okay, a little more: This is a Bruce you know, folks. He's got the obsessive streak. He's got the cool toys. He's got his eye on the saving Gotham prize, but he's also got a softer edge to him. Is he still an exacting taskmaster? Absolutely. But there's a layer of angst off of him, maybe more than one, and it makes me wonderful to read. Because he's the Bruce you know, but he's also a Bruce a lot of people have missed. The Bruce (and Bat) who is a complete hardass but with a softer side that balances him out.

Snyder writes a hell of a first chapter. In fact, it was his spectacular work on Dick Grayson's Bat-time in "Detective" that got me to try the new "Batman," and I am so fucking glad I did.

I'll go into more depth on Comic Dork Sunday. Right now, I've got to run out and comic dork in person.

If you recall, I recently sold you lovely people a bunch of my comics (and for those of you who are waiting for me to touch base with you since I'm back from the first leg of my vacation, gimmie another day). I have taken the money and invested it in new, digital comics. I'm replacing some stuff I had in trade, but I've also bought some shiny new stuff. I was gonna wait another couple of days before I started buying, but a bunch of Batman stuff--including the brilliant "Long Halloween" and "Dark Victory"--is on a two-day, ninety-nine cent sale, so that knocked me into action. By the way, if you want to get in on that sale, you can purchase them at comixology (comics.comixology.com) and read them on your computer without need for an iPad. There's also "Batman: Year One," "A Death in the Family," and some other arcs.

Anyway, the point of this post (beyond keeping my iPad active while I download a shitton of comics) is to share my buy list. I keep an ever-increasing list of stuff to buy, and I whittle it down every time I get some spare cash so that it may grow again.

( let's take a look, shall we? )

It's really interesting to look at this list and see that I still have a massive love for Marvel to a point in their recent history. This is partly due to the fact that a bunch of the DC stuff I want isn't available digitally. I'm hoping the relaunch doesn't keep DC from putting out their more recent stuff in digital formats. I really, really want Bryan Q. Miller's "Batgirl" and the whole run of "Booster Gold."

Thoughts on the list? What did I just buy that I didn't know sucks?

(Before anyone points out that I said I wasn't gonna read Batgirl, I want to say I read the first issue because My Geeky Geeky Ways [formerly looking2dasars on lj] told me I should, and I trust him.)

I didn't read JLA because I don't really give a fuck about Supes (never really have in general), and Hal is kinda boring, so I don't want to read a book where he features. So, my new DC started with JLI and Batgirl, and I have opinions! Spoilers ahead. I'm on my iPad, and cuts are a pain in the ass, so just scroll by if you don't want to know anything.

JLI #1

I like Jurgens a lot, and I like that he's always had respect for Booster as a character. It shows through nicely here, where Booster is put in charge of the team and knows how to handle Guy's anger at not being leader. Booster's a little nervous, but he's clearly competent, and I liked seeing Bats back him to Guy.

It's also nice to see that there is at least some sort of a relationship going. She admonishes him as a friend, not a stranger. Whether or not they've dated is still unclear, but their friendship is intact, and that makes me feel good. A lot of Guy's current character came from Tora's influence and her belief that he was a good person, and I can't imagine Guy being Guy without her.

One thing that bugs me about the book is the fact that some relationships are pretty much like they were pre-relaunch, and Bats seems to be on decent terms with Guy and Booster, but I don't know if it's because those relationships are just not going to change or if there's new backstory. So, it's confusing and a bit clunky (Booster seems to be both respected and a joke in equal measure, and it's not the right balance), but I trust Jurgens, and I don't expect the first issue of any of the relaunch books to be perfectly smooth.


Short version: I recommend it. I like the dynamic getting set up, and I like that Guy's outburst comes from his years of experience and not because they need a team douche (a la Guy in the original JLI). I think it'll be a good book and will smooth out by the end of the arc.

Batgirl #1
I said, when it was announced that Babs would be Batgirl, that I didn't give a shit because Babs had never been my Batgirl. She had been Oracle, and I saw no reason for her to go back. I also said that I trusted that Gail Simone would write a damned fine story that would handle Babs' "recovery" in a solid way. Having now read the launch issue, I can say I was right about Simone's writing. She does manage to give weight to Babs' time in the chair and also manages to make it clear that Babs is still trying to figure everything out. It's a good character piece for Babs. But.

But I still don't care about Babs as Batgirl. Simone wrote a strong first issue, but I'm still sitting here, having just finished it, and not really caring about Babs being worried and nervous as Batgirl. It doesn't click with me. I don't know that I can pinpoint why it doesn't work, all I can say for certain is that if you put Babs worrying next to Steph's concerns in Bryan Q. Miller's just-completed run, I'd rather read Steph worrying without a question. I think it's because even Babs herself points out that she's Batman's star pupil (and, again, I'm getting reboot dissonance trying to figure out exactly what her relationship to Bats is), so even as she's having a truly believable bit of PTSD (unlike Dixon's bullshit in Last Laugh), I'm not actually worried that something bad is about to happen, and when something bad does happen, I find myself without that layer of caring I want to have for characters.

Short Version: Wait for the trade. I trust Simone to write a great story, but I'm gonna wait out this first arc before I decide to jump on. Not having the emotional reaction to Babs that I want tells me to hold off until I have a full story to read and connect with. Also, points to Simone for handling the magical "cure" so well. It's not explained, but I'm pretty sure the point of the first arc is to draw out that explanation through good storytelling.

So, there you go, my notes so far. Next week, I salivate over Batwoman. If I'm feeling chatty, I may even write it up.

This is a strange occurrence. When I first got into comics in a major way about seven years ago, I was basically all Marvel. I loved Marvel. Iron Man, Cap, New Avengers, Daredevil, and a stack of others were about all I read. Slowly but surely some DC got onto the list (most notably the GL stuff), and some smaller companies got in as well (Invincible, The Boys, Fables,), but I was making my pull list for the new 52 and figuring out what I want from it plus adding in what I want from other companies and the numbers are way DC-skewed.

Part of it is that DC is bringing back Blue Beetle (Jaime, I love you, no matter how much I love Ted [and Ted, I love you, too]), and Batwoman is finally launching, and I'm really interested to see what Dick's gonna be like in Nightwing, but the other part of it is that Marvel is so mired in events that I'm dropping Invincible Iron Man.

Guys, the things I would do to Matt Fraction thanks to how much I've loved IIM are OBSCENE. It has consistently been my top two comic every month, tying with GLC most of the time in terms of how much I look forward to it and read the hell out of it, but it's gotten jammed into the "Every baddie gets a fucking hammer" event, and I can't give a fuck. The same thing happened with Captain America, and I dropped it like a damned stone as soon as I found out they'd offed Bucky because I thought it was an insult both to Brubaker's constant excellent work on the book and to Bucky as a character and to readers who FUCKING LIKED BUCKY YOU DOUCHEBAGS. I actually dropped Daredevil during "Daredevil goes batshit and is maybe possessed and builds a fucking Alcatraz in Hell's Kitchen" event, but now that's it's relaunched and not part of "Every bad guy gets a hammer," I want to give it a go. It wasn't bad story-telling or even the mind-numbingness of the event that got me putting it aside. It was the fact that Daredevil had gotten so goddamned dark is was hard to get through for the angst, and when I'm complaining about angst levels, your levels are WAAAAAY too high.

So, no Cap for the foreseeable future (seriously, Marvel, fuck you), and no IIM for awhile (gives me a chance to reread it, at least), but I am reading Daredevil. I'm also keeping regular Deadpool on my list because it is wacky hijinks and astoundingly good at character bits and doesn't get caught in all of Marvel's event bullshit.

Speaking of event bullshit, I am buying the Cloak & Dagger mini because, dear god, I would love to see an ongoing with those two, and I will encourage it even if it is part of "everyone has spider powers" event that I don't give a fuck about. And please remember that "everyone gets a hammer" and "everyone gets spider powers" should not be confused with the "and the X-men are forming into tinier, angrier groups--no, again--yes, really, again--no, really AGAIN" event.

You know, at least when DC throws events all over the goddamned map, they do it once a goddamned year. I honestly can't remember the last time Marvel was without one. I think Civil War is what made everything turn into an event, right? I think it went Civil War, Siege, Secret Invasion, Dark whatever-the-fuck, Daredevil goes crazy and possessed, every baddie gets a hammer, and now everyone gets spider powers. And please don't confuse those with the myraid of ridiculous X-Men events that I can't actually track back because I stopped giving a fuck right around the time the goddamned baby got named HOPE. JESUS CHRIST YOU GUYS A LITTLE LESS OBVIOUS WILL YOU.

...Anyway, if you're wondering what I'll be reading come September, here it is:

On DC:
Justice League International
Batwoman
Blue Beetle
Green Lantern Corps
Green Lantern: New Guardians
Nightwing
Batman Beyond

I considered Teen Titans pretty heavily, but as I'm only really a fan of Timmy and Kon and don't know much about the writer, I'm gonna hold off and see how the first arc goes.

On Marvel:
Deadpool
Daredevil
Cloak and Dagger

Other:
Chew


I've got a short list of maybes going on as well, mostly from Vertigo. I just read the first arc of Scalped and loved it, but I heard it's ending at 60, and it's at 50 now, so I'll probably wait it out. I also read the first arc of Sweet Tooth and am very intrigued. If I ever get caught up on Morning Glories (which is through Image), I may keep going with it. I think I've read the first four issues and really enjoyed it, but now I'm six or seven behind. I'm also trying to catch up on X-Factor, which keeps getting sucked into the bullshit events, but as I've been reading it in huge chunks, it's easier to handle it.

And fuck knows I've got a good backlog going at all times. Right now I'm reading Ted's Blue Beetle book, and I'm reading the first on-going of Deadpool (from '95, I think. Not the mini before it), and I'm hoping to restart The Authority and actually read the whole thing this time. I lost my place from before. I'm also planning to re-read Planetary. And there's as much as the Guy Gardner history as I have, which includes the entirety of the original JLI and the Guy Gardner series (you know, the one where he wakes up with boobs that one time [yes, really]).

A diminished love of Marvel has not diminished my love of comics. Even if they gave Catwoman to Judd fucking Winick. (Really DC? REALLY? DID YOU ALSO GIVE HIM A BADGUY HAMMER BECAUSE JESUS CHRIST WHAT IT WRONG WITH YOU)