A Comic Was Solicited With a Writer I Adore...and an Artist I Loathe

I am a big fan of the comic-books by Peter David. His run on, "X-Factor" from the early 2000's to the 2010's was among my favorite comic-runs ever. Even if he has at times said some tone-deaf things, he apologizes for them and grows as a person who I enjoy reading his thoughts online along with his stellar comic-work. Therefore, in latest Marvel solicitations in this month's edition of, "Previews," I was ecstatic to see he was going to be writing a Spider-Man mini-series set during the time Peter Parker had the black suit (which turned-out to be a Symbiote, and once he cast it off turned into fan-favorite character, Venom). Titled, "Symbiote Spider-Man," I was ready to tell my comic-shop to put me down for all the issues...and then I saw who the artist was. The artist is (insert a big sigh sound effect here) Greg Land.

Greg Land is of course notable for how instead of doing much actual artwork he just traces a lot of stuff and the finished product looks like a crappy pin-up as opposed to telling a story. He'll use other's art as well as pictures to create his supposed work. Perhaps he will trace a photo from a magazine, a sporting event, or (quite often it seems) porn, as all of his women are posed suggestively and usually have faces shaped as if they are in pure ecstasy even if they're supposed to be yelling or angry. Greg Land is just terrible and the last time I suffered through his artwork for a comic it was when Al Ewing was absolutely killing it on, "Mighty Avengers," and Greg Land was killing...almost all of my enjoyment of the book. I  honestly don't think I can take any more of Land's atrocious excuse for art and for that reason I'm going to sit-out, "Symbiote Spider-Man," just so I can keep my eyes from burning in pain upon glimpsing Land's work.

They Made the, "Titanfall," Series into a Battle Royale Game...Why?

In the past I discussed how much I loved, "Titanfall 2," even going so far as to say it was game of 2016 even if its terrible sales did not reflect much love from the marketplace. Now they have made and just released a battle royale game vaguely set in that world titled, "Apex Legends." As I understand it, this game lacks both the cool big mechs of the, "Titanfall," series as well as the incredible acrobatic parkour. What is the point then other than to make a generic battle royale shooter in the hopes of snatching-up some of that sweet, sweet, "Fortnite," money? Oh, and it has paywalls to block-off certain classes unless you earn in-game currency or pony-up cash, so it is a lot less free-to-play than other games in the field.

The real punch to gut of all this is that, "Titanfall 3," is not being made, and that was outright stated. While it maybe was being created once, it apparently isn't in production now. Hearing that of all things is probably the most utterly depressing aspect. Instead of making more great, "Titanfall," games they took the series' corpse, ripped-out anything that made it special, and shoved in a bunch of bland battle royale guts. Sorry if that's graphic, but I am expressing my own visceral reaction to all this, and harsh words as needed for such a massive let-down. I'm not exactly eager for this, in other words.

Please, No One Ever Write the Word, "Gynocentric," Again

Over the weekend people read a review of Carolyn Nowak’s new graphic novel, "Girl Town," by a writer named Jake Murel, who wasn't trying to be offensive (as today's blog entry on The Comic's Journal websites discusses) but made some really weird observations. The review itself has been edited, but The Comic's Beat has the original excerpts which feature many a use of the word, "Gynocentric," as in how because ladies have vagina's their art reflects this in its formatting, or the comic-gutter or something? I don't know. I am both a fan of Nowak (her erotic comic, "No Better Words," was hot as well as smart) and I like The Comic's Journal (their EIC, Tucker Stone, is someone I consider a friend of mine) but man did TCJ fuck-up with this.

Stone already apologized profusely on the site, as I linked to above, but it has spurred some discussion about how TCJ maybe could use some more female contributors, points-of-view, etc. as it is doubtful a woman would ever refer to a work as, "Gynocentric," just as it would be silly to talk about a man's comic as, "Phallocentric," unless, I guess, the whole comic was actually about a penis...note to self: make a comic about a humanoid penis who spends the pages wondering aloud if he is too phallocentric, have him meet a vagina that talks about if it is maybe too gynocentric, then find an artist willing to illustrate how they fall in love in a very detailed physical manner and profit off my weird meta-porno comic. Anyways, this whole thing is weird, but it seems TCJ has learned from it and will try and do better, Nowak took it all in stride, and I honestly would hope no one ever writes the word, "Gynocentric," again.

Marvel's 80th Anniversary One-Shots are Good Fun and Make Me Kind of Sad Too

Marvel is celebrating being 80 years old (technically a lot less with the actual name, "Marvel," but counting its years as Timely comics and Atlas we hit 80), and as a part of this has been releasing some cool one-shots themed for their past works and in genres a bit more diverse than they do now. For example a war comic, sci-fi, horror, and some others have come out with other cool stuff on the way too. I have quite enjoyed the books I've read so far, full of today's talent creating stories with an equal mixture of a nostalgic vibe and new techniques, and each book is end-capped with a short article about that genre/type of comic and some examples of the comics in that milieu from assorted eras. They are good fun and make me kind of sad too.

Why do these great comics make me sad? Well, reading all these comics full of subjects Marvel doesn't really cover anymore is a little depressing. Marvel maybe will dip into horror a bit (look at how terrifying, "Immortal Hulk," has been), or do some science-fiction with its heroes, but that's the rub right there--Marvel basically is all about super-hero comics now. We are all aware that comic-books as an art-form have a lot more than super-heroes, but Marvel and DC do still find vast, vast majority of their income comes from comics with people in spandex or capes (DC maybe a little less throughout history with its assorted imprints). Marvel might attempt to occasionally do something outside the realm of super-heroes, but it is a rare occurrence because when that happens these tries at something different get minimal-to-almost-zero sales.

Now, Image comics is of course a big publisher now and does a lot of stuff besides super-powered folk (after all, "The Walking Dead," is often a top-10 comic and has nothing to do with super-heroes) Marvel has found that its attempts to branch-out often sadly fail, and the end-result is a big focus on super-hero comics that maybe poke-at other genres, but still in that wheelhouse of superpowers. These one-shots are exceptions to that usual practice, and the fact they are such good fun paradoxically makes them all the more depressing. Who knows, maybe these will sell well enough Marvel experiments a bit more, as unlikely as that sounds it could happen, right? Right? Sigh.

I'm Watching the Super Bowl Today for One Reason

I'm only watching the Super Bowl today for the half-time show. Yes, I'm being serious. The region of Saint Louis despises the Rams because the owner, Stan Kroenke insulted the area and everyone who lives in it repeatedly when he up and left for California, and I personally do not like the New England Patriots because even in my limited knowledge of football I'm familiar with their coach being a cheater, and how star-player Tom Brady engages in bypassing rules as much as he can too--in addition to engage in poor sportsmanship, pouting and engaging in blaming everyone else he can whenever he doesn't win/get his way (seriously, there are articles from every year he lost the Super Bowl or big games discussing how he was petty). I wish both teams could lose, so I'm not watching the game for the game itself, that much I know.

I am watching for the half-time show because I am extremely excited to see Big Boi--a member of my favorite music-group of all time, OutKast, perform along with the generally solid Travis Scott whose music I relatively enjoy. Oh, and Maroon 5 is going to be there, which is good for them, Adam Levine is perfectly pleasant, after all. Perhaps while waiting for the half-time show I'll be able to enjoy some (presumably) humorous advertisements and pay vague attention to whether the Patriots or Rams have much success against one another. I really don't care for either team, but I love me some Big Boi and am a fan of Travis Scott so that should be good fun.

A Review of "Warlock," and its Amazing Use of the Comic-Form

There are certain things comic-books do that can't really be done in any other format. For a prime example of the comic form being used in an amazing way I would point people to the fantastic indie comic by Dale Forward, "Warlock." I met Mr. Forward on Reddit where he was posting about how he hoping to get opinions on a new comic he wrote. I told him I had a blog and would be happy to give him an honest review of his work. The way he described it sounded intriguing, and having now read the comic I would say if anything he under-stated how creative it is.

The plot centers on a Warlock--always referred to simply as the Warlock--who has one of his eyes cursed. This curse results in him seeing things differently, be it warped realities, images of the past or glimpses of the future, and all kinds of weirdness. That sounds interesting, but what Forward does that is purely genius is how the comic comes with 3-D glasses...yet the comic isn't in 3-D however. You heard me right, while 3-D is of course a fun little gimmick, what Forward does is have his artwork done so that if you look through either the red or blue lens of the glasses you see very different artwork. For example, there may be a page where through the, "Normal," blue eye it looks like a quiet night, but once you peer through the red cursed eye suddenly evil monsters are clearly lurking. It is incredible to see on the page, as without the glasses the comic appears to be a jumble of just red and blue with some black, but after alternating, "Eyes," it is a startling thing.

My scans don't do the effect justice.

Forward makes great use of this storytelling element he created (I don't believe I've ever seen this technique used anywhere else). It never feels gimmicky as the whole thing with the Warlock's cursed eye and his attempt to be cured is integral to the story. Forward does all kind of clever tricks with this too, for example in a segment where the Warlock temporarily loses use of an eye only one lens will, "Work," on the page, with the other lens/eye now reduced to being completely obscured. Now, as much as this technique is genius if the artwork were poor that would do little to help the comic. The art is great however, giving everything a solid otherworldy and fantasy vibe. When goblins or other creatures emerge they are grotesque and scary in all the right ways, with the Warlock being large and imposing yet still clearly vulnerable enough in his actions and mannerisms to garner empathy from readers. Throughout the story all kinds of philosophical considerations are discussed and if the Warlock is truly cursed or in a way has a gift is a question raised but left for the readers to determine.

I am very happy to have met Dale Forward online. His comic he provided for the purposes of review is amazing between the thoughtful story, great artwork, and incredible technique he uses with the Warlock's eyes that must have taken a ton of time and effort--Forward essentially had to draw each page twice with different colors, after all. This is a prime example of the kind of incredible work that only can be produced in the form of comics and I loved it. I enthusiastically rate it 5 out of 5 stars.

You can purchase, "Warlock," via the popular website/format for selling stuff, BigCartel. You can learn more about Dale Forward and check out his art on his Facebook Page, via Instagram, or give him a holler on Twitter as well.

Note: A copy of, "Warlock," was provided by the creator upon my request for the purposes of review.

The Key Collector Comics App is Really Handy

I dabble in comic-book speculation, as folk may know, which is the art of buying a comic in the hopes it will have some value shortly (or later on) and then selling it. I've written about hot comics for my occasional segment The Hot Comics Revue, and I'm a big fan of the website Comics Heating Up (a fantastic place to learn about upcoming comics that might be sought-after). One thing I heard about and have used for a bit is Key Collector Comics. They both have a website and a really professional app. You can use it to find details about past comics that are getting popular, upcoming releases that might be worth getting, and scuttlebutt about things that aren't hot now, but if they get optioned/have a show made, might very well then be in-demand.

Key Collector Comics is free to use, but if you want a whole bunch of other helpful features (alerts, assorted snazzy articles) you can subscribe for $1.99 a month or $19.99 for the whole year. Based on how much this website and its app contains I would say that is quite worth the price. For example, once I made my account a paid one I took advantage of some alerts about books that might become, "Key," issues to dig in my back-issues and pull-out comics that I thought were worth all of a dollar but depending on what the future holds might go for a chunk more someday. Even if you are someone who doesn't do much buying and/or selling of comic-books, the lists and writings are full of fun facts, trivia, and otherwise I'd say they're extremely informative if you just like learning about comics.

Some of the current categories/lists being featured.

I'd encourage folk to visit the website, and for sure try Key Collector Comics out on their iPhone, or if they have an Android-style phone it is available in that format as well. Between the user-friendly design and great content I really like Key Collector Comics and am eager to continue using it to both get advice on popular comics, and learn a lot of interesting things too.

Intergender Wrestling Matches and the Socio-Cultural Politics of Sports

I haven't watched wrestling much in years. This is not a slight at the art of wrestling, as I greatly enjoyed viewing it from my middle-school years, up through high-school, and even sometimes would catch some broadcasts during college. The thing with professional wrestling however is that it actually is a whole lot plot, drama, and scripting, and like many other television shows (or certain comic-books like super-hero ones) if you stop paying attention for long you fall completely behind and find yourself bewildered. As I got older I just had a lot less time for some of my hobbies, and in the same way I play video-games a whole lot less now, I lack much time for wrestling. That said, I do still read-up on its sometimes and found this very interesting article that made me think about wrestling, gender equality, and cultural views/politics.

In a recent big wrestling event known as, "The Royal Rumble," which had its 2019 edition, for the first time in a long while it came about that a woman named Nia Jax wrestled men. This got some press. For a good decade now you would have rarely seen a man intentionally strike a woman in a pro-wrestling match. Lately it has been where women always fought women, men always fought men, and if there was an intergender tag-team match the guys and gals basically never struck one another, rare exceptions aside. This came about for many reasons, from how professional wrestling often in the past had portrayed women more as sex objects, wanted to avoid controversies of men hitting women, and so forth. After all, in our nation's social politics it often struggles with serious discussions of domestic violence, and having scripted violence where a man appears to beat-up on a woman is not a good look for a huge company. In the past the WWE (as it is currently known) had women such as Chyna who would often fight men, but it was the bigger, "manlier," women who were thought to be okay to engage in fisticuffs with dudes--e.g. the pretty chicks wouldn't fight men.

Apparently that has been changing, as the door is maybe opening to intergender wrestling and showcasing that strong women and strong men can engage in this sport with respect for one another, gender aside. The WWE looks to be working hard to make sure that in their shows of scripted violence they don't create an image of women being ganged-up on by men, or play the idea of a woman beating a male wrestler for laughs, this moment with Nia Jax has moved things into a realm where intergender matches could occur and it be done in a manner that is mature and professional. 

Lots of sports lack much in the way of any intergender players. There are no women in the NBA, they are in the WNBA. There are no female NFL players (not even kickers, as people sometimes like to be tone-deaf and joke a female could do, which is disrespectful to both women and kickers), the closest women get to the field is as a cheerleader or reporter. Sports just don't have much of any intergender aspects and going into the social-political-physical reasons for that would take more space than I will ever have in an article. Wrestling however, with its mixture of being both athleticism and relatively scripted is a unique blend of sport and live-action drama. It is a play where the stage is the ring, and the protagonists and antagonists act their stories out through an equal mixture of words and whaling on one another. By the prospect of how a lot of what happens is already planned, it is quite easy to script the violence in a way that addresses social politics, or carefully avoids them. It is unique in both its opportunities and limitations when compared to different sports, in other words. 

Nia Jax eventually lost by being tossed out of the ring,
but not before herself eliminating many male competitors.

There is a lot of stuff to consider in any sport when it incorporates intergender matches, and pro-wrestling has even more to mull-over as unlike a woman playing in the MLB, this is a sport where the entire point is to physically attack your opponent and win. A whole lot of cultural elements are at play when it comes to the idea of men and women wrestling one another, and how to handle the optics. One wonders though, if a relatively scripted-sport such as pro-wrestling can be progressive enough to incorporate intergender aspects, what is keeping supposedly mainstream sports from doing the same?

Why I Haven't Bothered Talking About Bill Maher

Bill Maher hates comic-books. Who cares what he thinks though?

In November of last year Bill Maher posted a big anti-comic screed to his blog in the wake of Stan Lee passing. Apparently this past weekend he doubled-down on his hatred of comic-books and their related film properties by stating how they are for kids, boring, and all the other outdated claims made by someone who probably has not actually bothered to understand the art-form he is criticizing. A handful of people have asked me what I wrote about Maher in November (nothing) or what I was going to write now and I expressed there is little need to counter his claims about comic-books. Why do I feel like there is little need to discuss Maher or his outdated views? Well, the man has been culturally irrelevant for years.

If some random moron on the street were to hand you pamphlet they'd xeroxed full of hateful opinions about the things you love, you'd toss it aside and barely give it a second thought. Also, if someone who used to be relatively famous had built-up some much ill-will for being a jerk that they had to resort to bringing equally-hated guests on their show or making idiotic proclamations in the hopes it would get them even any attention, what would you care? The person with the brochure is desperate for engagement from others for their beliefs, and Maher craves some kind of recognition, no matter how negative. He wants people who matter (movie-stars who play super-heroes, big-name writers, etc.) to pay him their mind because he hopes that way he'll seem like he matters too. He does not.

Maher insulted Kevin Smith--with an outdated photo of Smith pre weight-loss, no less--too,
because again, he wants people who matter to pay him attention.

Maher used to be considered an edgy and insightful voice in the field of comedy. Then over-time he morphed into a hateful little man, shouting into the void hoping someone would watch his shows, read his articles, simply pay him any kind of attention. Maher is doing this shit because he wants to make people angry--he knows he lost his ability to make people laugh at his jokes or think critically about serious opinions long ago and now all he has is the ability to play on people's emotions. I honestly don't care if Bill Maher dislikes comics just as I don't care if some person at an intersection is holding a sign declaring how all politicians are secretly lizard-people (which is silly, we all know they're secretly bird-people), they think something stupid and just want attention for it. Maher is culturally irrelevant, and this hissy-fit about comic-books is just yet another example of him trying very hard to seem like his opinion matters. It doesn't.

"Twilight of the Bat," Comic Review

I've always been intrigued by Josh Simmons' comics about a vigilante who is known as a man who dresses as a Bat...but isn't Batman. Simmons seems to just barely skirt a lot of copyright and trademark laws by arguably making his tales with a Bat-character parodies of Batman, and of course satire is protected from certain copyright elements, hence all those unapproved-by-DC porn parodies of Batman that exist.

Simmons did a tale about this Bat-character before that I enjoyed in how bizarrely twisted it was as the Bat talked about his obsession in regards to fighting-crime (as a Catwoman-style character said how he'd become a bit pathetic) and came up with a disturbing concept for mutilating criminals. While when it was published as a mini-comic it was titled, "Batman," Simmons was able to include it in his utterly disturbing collection of his work, "The Furry Trap," (a book I've talked about before) by changing some elements, such as naming it, "Mark of the Bat." I heard he had another comic with the Bat that came out in late 2017, but utterly forgot about it until I saw some writing about it recently. I immediately ordered a physical copy from publisher Cold Cube Press (because even if it can now be found digitally, I like physical comics a lot). I've now read the comic and will share my thoughts.

The first thing that I noticed/realized about, "Twilight of the Bat," is that while it has Josh Simmon's credited as the writer of the story, outside of the artwork on the back-cover of the comic he does not contribute any further art. Instead, Patrick Keck is the artist. While I enjoy Simmon's illustrative skills, this was not a bad thing at all as Keck's work is perfect for this story, which involves G---- City now utterly destroyed due to some kind of explosions/bombs/etc.

The place now is covered in snow and fires, with Batman for months unable to find anyone, until he spots his unnamed (within the story) laugh-loving criminal counterpart. The book never says its the Joker, but it is. Keck's artwork makes the snow and ruined city looks absolutely perfect in how ruined and destroyed it all is. Plus, as the comic proceeds and Bats finds his patience wearing thin with a completely laissez faire Joker, Keck's work perfectly expresses all kinds of blood and gross body-matter being exposed.

Simmon's writing always is a weird mixture of quiet subtly and over-the-top grossness. "Twilight of the Bat," has a moment where the Joker dances around at Batman has ripped-off a finger from him in rage, waving his hands about (as blood sprays around) before proceeding to take a dump on the ground--all it turns out, in the hopes of simply making the stone-faced Batman laugh. Much of the comic discusses how the Joker doesn't think he's doing things to be mean or nice, he just feels he likes a good joke, and Batman's obsession with right-and-wrong is just a hilarious thing to mess with, in his mind. It is a comic that is a mixture of fan-fiction, satire, and its own interesting take on the whole mythology of how Batman and the Joker both need and despise each other. I enjoyed reading it and would say Simmon's and Keck did a great job.
4 out of 5 stars.

"Twilight of the Bat," is available for free digitally. You can order your own copy of the comic itself at the aforementioned Cold Cube Press website. It is also contained in a collection of works by Simmons that came out in 2018, "Flayed Corpse and Other Stories," which is published by the great folk over at Fantgraphics.