Comicsgirl

I know I said this week, but it’s not going to be done today and I’ll be gone this weekend. This week just sort of slipped through my fingers.

I’m aiming for Monday. It may be a two-part deal, depending on how it goes and how much I decided I have to say.

I’m only sharing because I know there was all of two of you who were waiting for it.

(Everyone seems to be taking a break post San Diego, even people who weren’t there. I think it’s just that time of year.)

I was looking for something else and came across AMOS’s Wonder Women of America, a compilation of photos of women who dressed up in costumes at San Diego Comic-Con last year.

Typically, books like this can go one of two ways — the bad way is that these women get fetishized for wearing costumes, and the good way is that it becomes a celebration of women finding their power through a character they identify with. This book, from glancing at the photos (there are more here) seems to be going the “good” way. I see a pretty big diversity of ages and body shapes (although, sadly, not much of a racial diversity, but I hope that’s only the sample photos).

STRANGEco still lists it as “coming soon” but I’m assuming they’re resettling after SDCC. I look forward to checking this book out.

Last night at a bar, Nick Fury: Agent of Shield starring David Hasselhoff came up in conversation, because these are the sorts of things we talk about in bars.

I’ve been reading comics long enough to remember the version of The Punisher starring Dolph Lundgren and the Captain America starring no one who’s particularly notable to me. Not that I really sat through these — I just remember they’re out there, despite Marvel’s best attempts to erase everyone’s memory of them.

But oddly, while Hasselhoff-as-Nick-Fury was being discussed, I suddenly remember that Fox made a Generation X movie from 1996.

I liked the Generation X comic quite a bit. Yes, it had a stupid title, but it had a bunch of characters I liked. It had Scott Lobdell and Chris Bachalo as the creative team. It’s a title I would love to see collected in full.

But the Generation X movie? It was bad. It didn’t need to be as bad as it was, even with the budget it had.

For those of you who didn’t watch it (which was basically everyone), here’s a clip:

Yeah. I actually don’t know if I managed to get through the whole thing when it first aired. And I really wanted to like it. I would’ve watched the series. You know, if it hadn’t been so terrible.

Which also brings me to the Birds of Prey series. We’ll go with the official clip from Warner Bros.:

I know I taped the first few episodes of Birds of Prey, but we didn’t have the WB at the time. Instead, our NBC affiliate would show the WB programs really late on Sundays or Saturdays or … basically whenever they felt like it. If some sort of sporting event ran late or they needed more time for infomercials, oh well. So keeping track of Birds of Prey was next to impossible.

I do remember wishing it was a little bit better than it was. But I still kind of liked it. So I was pretty delighted to see it’s newly out on DVD, and the Gotham Girls Flash-animated shorts are included (and I’m surprised and delighted to see they’re still online). I will probably buy this set.

I imagine there is more superhero TV that has long been forgotten about. I had fun looking up both of these on YouTube (and learning Generation X didn’t get better with age).

Esteban I.V. Galindo of The Capistrano Dispatch offers A Ladies’ Guide to Comic Book Heroes. And for proclaiming to be a guide, it’s really not that informative. I think most “ladies” would be able to figure these things out on their own.

So Galindo’s wife isn’t interested in superhero movies or the comic books they were based on. There is nothing wrong with that. But she’s not representative of all women. Neither am I. I think that’s the ultimate flaw with pieces like this — just because one man knows one woman who may be more interested in Sex in the City than she is in comics doesn’t mean that all women are. I certainly don’t think all men like comic books or football.

While I did feel myself getting more and more stupid watching G4′s coverage of San Diego Comic-Con (and the commercials! How many do they really need?), I was delighted by Blair Butler. Sure, she’s a lovely girl and it’s obvious that she appeals to G4′s target demographic, but her excitement and enthusiasm for being there, getting to talk about comics was unmistakable. I doubt she needs a “ladies’ guide to comic book heroes” either.

The Wake Buy from tfaw.com

Three things first off:

1. The hardcover of The Wake is beautifully presented and I think the cover is my absolutely favorite Dave McKean image. So perfect and gorgeous. I feel lucky to have the book in this form.
2. Matthew’s comments at Dream’s funeral make me cry. Like in that impossible-to-read-anymore-can’t-see-through-the-tears-have-to-put-the-book-down way. Every time.
3. The pun of the title is an obvious one, but I still love it.

It’s hard to know what to say about The Wake, really. After the manic The Kindly Ones, this is a quiet, meditative conclusion.

Michael Zulli’s intricate art in the first four parts provides a great counterpoint to Marc Hempl’s blocky, saturated art in The Kindly Ones. The contrast is a fitting one. There’s little action here. It’s mostly just characters talking, trading stories about Dream. I especially like his old lovers exchanging their thoughts about him. I like seeing Richard Madoc again (who, until he appeared, I’d forgotten about). I also like Batman and Martian Manhunter showing up here. While Neil Gaiman did get farther and farther away from trying to put this story in the DC Universe, I like the little reminder of “yes, friends, this was, in fact a comic book by the same people who publish Batman.” It’s a subtle bit of self-awareness.

While the three issues of “The Wake” and its epilogue, “Sunday Mourning,” do a good job of wrapping up the major plot points, I liked the feeling that these stories weren’t over. These characters are going to go off and have other adventures. I just may not get to watch. The Sandman exists in such a rich, lovely world that I feel like I was just given small glimpses into.

Hob’s decision to live in the end is beautiful and hopeful – it’s a choice that Dream couldn’t make for himself. Gwen even jokes about “they all lived happily ever after.” (And I know that he has a black girlfriend in the end was, in part, a reaction to that most of the black women in the comic ended up dead.) We know, from having read this comic, that there probably aren’t too many cleanly happy endings out there, but we leave most everyone at the point of a new beginning.

“Exiles” is a strange story – almost unnecessary, except that Jon J. Muth’s style here is amazing and for one line – “Sometimes I suspect that we build our traps ourselves, then we back into them, pretending amazement the while.” That is, essentially, the theme of all of The Sandman. Dream was his own prisoner. The only way he could find the way out of his cage was by dying.

And it’s impossible to not read “The Tempest” without injecting Gaiman himself into the story. Shakespeare is at the end of his career, writing his final play, and Gaiman’s wrapping up a nine-year long project. Shakespeare’s comments about family neglect, using personal tragedies in his work may or may not be autobiographical, but it’s pretty clear that any creative work involves making some sacrifice. It’s Gaiman’s explanation as to why he didn’t want to do this anymore, in one way or another.

And it’s the perfect ending to an amazing series. I closed the book and was left feeling thoughtful and complete. There’s other stories we could’ve been told, sure, but I don’t think I could really ask for The Sandman to be anything other than it was.

Except, for you know, being told about Alianora. But tiny, tiny complaint.

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In a few days (next week?), I’ll do a final wrap-up on The Sandman. But I will say this now: I am absolutely glad I reread it. I don’t know what took me so long to do it. I already knew the series well, but I was amazed at how much there was in it I didn’t remember or didn’t notice before. I’m sure, in a few years, if I reread it once again, there will be even more. I think that is what struck me this time – just how much stuff there is here.