So of course after talking about how much Clayface scares me, what does one of my wonderful customers bring me from Baltimore Comic-Con?
The Greg Capullo limited edition Clayface print!
Don’t get me wrong, it’s gorgeous.
It just scares the crap out of me.
View it here at Mr. Capullo’s facebook page.
Okay, so I’m a few days late on this, but in my defense, I’ve been sick and updating this blog hasn’t been my priority. Sorry for the impromptu hiatus, small, tiny batch of readers, I’ll try to be better about this.
A few days ago marked BtAS’s 20th anniversary. How kooky is that?! This show came out when I was…*quickly runs to go do some math* eight! Eight years old, when this show started airing.
My memories of my initial watch are fuzzy, sadly, in so much as I can’t remember when I started watching or what episodes I caught as a kid. Flicks of myself sitting, rapt, in front of the television in our kitchen, enjoying an after school snack (pretzels in peanut butter and some soda, says the girl who eats her feelings!), or curled up on our living room couch, watching a show that I was probably a little too young for.
This was a show that was definitely meant for the comics fans (I would start reading three years later), and while it was marketed as a kid’s cartoon, it definitely was made to hold up for adults.
One episode I remember watching and being supremely terrified of, Was Feat of Clay, where the creators introduced Clayface to the fray, depicting Matthew Hagen, a past-his-prime actor who was putting an experimental drug on his face to reshape it after a car accident. He winds up in trouble with the wrong people and they force-feed him the stuff after a frame-up job goes awry.
I had been eight years old for ten days when that episode aired, and twenty years later, I still shiver at the thought of those scenes, but I also remember the other things it introduced me to.
While I love Batman, Bruce has never been my favorite bat-family character, even then. He was a hero, a symbol of justice, but even in the cartoon, there were other characters I loved more: Dick Grayson (though the jovial, redhead-loving comics version is much more fun), Barbara Gordon (which would start a long-running love of all things Batgirl), and an extremely sassy Alfred Pennyworth (the best kind of Alfred Pennyworth), not to mention a Rogues Gallery that introduced me to the likes of the Joker, the Scarecrow, Harley Quinn, Catwoman, and Ra’s and Talia Al Ghul.
Don’t let anyone tell you good villains are non-essential to effective storytelling, even in a (supposed) kid’s show. Because without them, Batman’s just a freak in a bat costume running on rooftops.
I didn’t know it at the time, but this show was setting me up to have high standards of storytelling. It’s no wonder other cartoon shows seemed to often pale in comparison. No other show at the time could boast the amount of thought and care put into its heroes, its plot, its villains. Even side characters like Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya got some time in the spotlight.
As someone who sells comics for a living, I know that the books often walk a fine line between being wildly inappropriate for younger kids (No, eight-year-old boy, you can’t read The Boys. Do you have any idea how many blow-jobs are in that book? Where are your parents?!) and being just grown-up enough to be enticing to them. They want to read the stuff they know might be just a little over their heads because they want to feel grown-up, and BtAS walked that line really well for a long time.
It also spawned the rest of the DC Animated Universe. After Batman, came the Superman Adventures, and then Batman: Beyond, and after that Static Shock, JLA and Justice League: Unlimited; all shows that take place in their own world in connection with each other, allowing for crossovers, and callbacks, just like comics of the time.
Batman: The Animated Series started it all.
So big thank you’s and hugs for Bruce Tim, Paul Dini, and all the writers and animators, not to mention Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill and rest of the voice actors. You have ruined me for other Batman cartoons.
I’m okay with that.
I was around nine or ten years old when I first read about Shadowcat, one of the younger members of the X-Men.
Marvel had reprinted issue #168 of Uncanny X-Men and it started like this:
As a young girl, dipping her toes into comics for the first time, you can imagine how this might have left an impression on me. A nerdy Jewish girl with a slight problem with authority? Oh yeah. I could relate, and suffice to say, Kitty Pryde became and has remained my favorite X-Character since.
But there always seemed to be something holding her back, and I didn’t realize until I was a little older what it was.
The Colossus thing.
Please.
Please do not throw rotten veggies at me. Just hear me out.
I know that Kitty and Piotr are one of the X-Universe’s most classic and beloved couples.
But, to be honest, from the beginning, it’s been a one-sided, mostly abusive relationship.
First and foremost, he was too old for her to begin with; he was in his early to mid-twenties, and she was what? Fourteen? Fifteen when they met? Not much older than that.
But that’s not really the worst thing about it.
Remember when his sister died and instead of letting Kitty comfort him, he joined the bad guy’s team?
Remember when he showed up and tried to beat her boyfriend to death?
Or, Spoiler Alert! the most recent issue of Wolverine and the X-Men, where he tried to convince her that his way of dealing with the Avengers in all this AvX mess was the right way by splitting a table in two and then threatening to tear down the school that she’s poured her time and energy and passion into?
Haha. Fun times.
Look, my point is that this crap has been going on for a really long time, and, with only a couple of exceptions, if the Marvel writers are trying to make us believe that these two characters belong together, they are doing a horrible job.
And it seems like there’s always some dramatic excuse for his abhorrent behavior. “He’s grieving!” “He has brain damage!” “He’s possessed by the Phoenix Force!”
But it seems to me there’s really only one solid explanation, and it’s present in every single instance: He’s a big bully who doesn’t like to be told “no.”
The only good to come out of the big abusive Kitty/Piotr mess is that she’s become a very strong, and frankly awesome character due to all the crap he has put her through; a hero who sticks by her beliefs and doesn’t let her romantic or nostalgic feelings get in the way of what she knows it right.
TL;DR: Go read Wolverine and the X-Men because Kitty Pryde is a bad-ass.
Until August 22nd, out of respect for the Aurora Tragedy.
I have not, in fact, had a chance to read the issue, so I’m not sure specifically why they decided to delay it, but it’ll sit in the storage rooms of your local comic shops until the 22nd, which is the date DC Comics has set for its new release date.
With Scott Snyder (current Batman writer) talking up his Joker-centered “Night of Owls” follow-up, one wonders what other changes DC might make, if any, in light of what’s happened.
In other Bat-related news, Grand Morrison has announced his imminent departure from both Action Comics and Batman Inc, leaving him a free agent to work on some new original material.
Hearts and thoughts go out to the Colorado DKR premiere shooting’s victims and their families.
<3
If you live in the DC area, well…good luck with today’s downpour.
That’s what we get for living essentially on a swamp. Stifling heat, and then torrential downpours.
If you’re like me, watching television during a storm doesn’t always appeal to you. There’s something nice about curling up with a good (comic) book, while nature kicks up a fuss outside the window, isn’t there?
So here are four oldies but goodies for a rainy day:
1. Super Spy
Nothing like a little thunder to accent Matt Kindt’s fantastic SC telling bits and pieces of the spy life.
2. Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits
Watch John Constantine beat back death, and then wander around in the rain. It’s pretty perfect.
3. Spider-Man: Blue
The tale of Gwen Stacy, before her death, as told by a melancholy Peter Parker. Beautiful work by Tim Sale and Jeph Loeb, and great for days stuck inside.
4. Batman: Arkham Asylum
Nothing says horror story like a thunderstorm. You know I’m right, and this little beauty written by Grant Morrison will creep you out very nicely.
Felicia Day’s Youtube Channel, Geek and Sundry has added another series to it’s growing line-up, which includes Day’s own Vlog (Flog), and the Wil Wheaton-hosted Table Top series.
It’s called Written By a Kid.
And it is.
Adorable.
No, really.
Its first outing stars Joss Whedon. Enjoy, and go check out the other featured series. They’re all pretty great.
