chezkevin

CAUTION: Do NOT mess with Supergirl

She will set you on fire.

from here. Have a good weekend everybody!

All this hubbub. . .

. . . has got me wondering, just Who is That Lady?

Gosh what a beautiful song. I think it should be Misfit, even though it probably won't be. Because Misfit is that awesome.

How 'bout you?

Marvel cashes in on spidey nostalgia. Fans appeased, and only slightly angry.

So what else is new?I only got once comic this week, but boy is it a doozy.

Dark Reign: The Goblin Legacy

by various

The title might as well be Amazing Spider-Man #'s 39-40 and stuff, because the real meat of the comic is the reprints. The Green Goblin hatches a scheme to learn Spidey's identity, succeeds, kidnaps Peter Parker, explains how he became the Green Goblin, ultimately culminating in a totally epic fight that ends the reign of the Goblin (amnesia! You don't get more Spidey soap opera than that!)

Forever, huh, Spidey?

All the while, J. Jonah Jameson gets his jolly on, and Aunt May worries about her poor dear "frail" Peter. Classic Spider-Man!

It's all framed in a Dark Reign sequence, and although I love what it's done with Norman Osborn, I think it's lost much of its steam since its opening. Sure, I already have the two issues of Amazing in Essential format (black n' white), but I am a sucker for old-school Stan Lee Spidey, and colored John Romita Sr. stuff. It's a terrible addiction, but I think it's valid.

You pick up the comic, and you get lost in it! It's a world where the writer winks and nods at you. A world where superheroes kick their villains in the face, while spouting five long sentences in mid-air.

. . . and, well, a world where there are things like "anti-spider-man explosives"! I love it.

There are better ways to get your spidey nostalgia on than this, for sure. But it's not too bad, if I say so myself.

Empowered Volume 1 (trade review)

Empowered Volume 1

by Adam Warren

Adam Warren is credited as the first maker of the"Original English-language Manga" (OEL), and when I heard that his Empowered involved a superheroine spoofing some of the more ridiculous parts of super-comics, I was pretty interested.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: "Empowered" is her name, and, well, getting tied up and gagged is her game. The character was born out of constant solicitations for Adam Warren to draw fetish pictures, and Adam Warren takes a twist to that for the better.

He makes fun of a lot of superhero conventions, creating a superhero soap opera/sitcom, where our protagonist, Empowered, is really self-conscious about her body, her place in the "Superhomeys" super-team, and her relationships.

WHAT I LIKED: It's pretty fun! There are several four- to 10-page short stories, each broken up by a "Empowered addresses the reader," style kinda thing. It's fun, and it's different, and if Adam Warren knows anything, it's those two!

There's even a segment where, as Empowered is tied up, her captors wonder if she's a famous person or not. It's pretty clever, and is kind of a retcon for why All Women in Superhero Comics Are Impossibly Proportioned.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: There's a "EXPLICIT CONTENT: PARENTAL ADVISORY" thing-y on the cover, and there's a reason for it! There are a heck of a lot of swear words and even some, um, explicit content. It really does walk the line between "satire" and "near-softcore-porn."

While I loved the wackiness of the stories, some of them are just way offbeat. This is not one of those Serious Comics That Takes Itself Seriously. Which is, well, kinda why I think it's awesome. It's just that other people might not.

EXTRAS?: There's actually a specific place at the end of the book that's labeled "EXTRAS," with some bonus pin-ups and sketches and stuff. It's pretty sweet!

FINAL THOUGHTS: It won't start a second Women's Liberation Era, but it might get you wondering, maybe even challenging, some things in comic books that you're used to.

Or, you can get it for the near softcore porn and cheesecake art. It's all good.