Wonder Woman!

Or  a brief look at Wonder Woman made for noobs, by a Wonder Woman Noob. 

Wonder Woman! She is as wonderful as Captain Marvel is marvellous, i.e. very.

I haven't read much Wonder Woman. But as a geek I recognise that even people who have not read any Wonder Woman at all will still regard her as one of the most iconic superheroes. Having recently read Azzarrelo's first volume of Wonder Woman (part of the New 52 reboot), I decided to have a look at her history thanks to a massive DC book of chronology I was given last Christmas.

In this blog entry I will be highlighting the stories that interest me in concept, even if I haven't  read like 99 percent of them lol. I will be concluding with a piece on the volume I have read, mentioned above.

1942: Sensation Comics #1:

This marked the first appearance (excluding a cameo in another issue) of Wonder Woman. Her creator, the psychologist William Moulton Marston wished to create a strong female heroine in a male dominated world. The issue itself dealt with Wonder Woman leaving her Amazonian home island to protect a crash landed US Army captain Steve Trevor from her Amazonian kinswomen who frankly weren't very fond of men. 

With the inspiration of her mother Queen Hippolyta, given the blessings of the goddesses Aphrodite and Athena, Wonder Woman travelled to America on her invisible jet. Graced with wonderful strength, speed, precise reflexes and armed with bullet deflecting bracelets, she boldly entered an alien land defeating criminals and buying herself the alter-ego Diana Prince, taking a day job as a nurse.

1943: Wonder Woman #6:

This marked the appearance of arguably Wonder Woman's archnemesis: Cheetah. 

1968: Wonder Woman #168:

This marked the beginning of what is arguably the most controversial Wonder Woman era. I don't bring my politics into my blogging so I will give a short description followed by suggestions of what it might have meant. In a nutshell this issue depowered Wonder Woman and put primary focus on her wardrobe. 

• Was it DC being misogynistic? 
• Was it DC just misguided and trying to appeal to a female audience?
• Were DC actually giving a superhero a new challenge in dealing with situations while depowered?
• Were DC jumping the bandwagon on the success of The Avengers (the TV series not the comic) and trying to gain fresh audience from that fan base?
• Were they just doing their usual thing of rebooting?

2001: Wonder Woman (second series) #164:

Wonder Woman is most interesting when she encounters mythological figures, I personally don't give a crap if she is helping the JLA against Darkseid or any of the often boring DC so called new gods or I dunno' some random cosmic or even boring generic villain event. 

I am probably not going to be able to read Gods of Gotham since it isn't listed on the online website of my favourite shop, but it sounds interesting indeed. Phobos (the God of Fear), Eris (Goddess of Discord) and Deimos (God of Fear) possess the bodies of the Scarecrow, Poison Ivy and the Joker in the name of their father Ares (God of War), terrifying everyone in Gotham City be they good or evil. 

2009: Blackest Night:

A warning: I may lose my shit at this point, please be patient!

Alright time for me to stand up as Geordie Green Lantern, while trying to keep my politics out of it. 

First check this out: 

Isn't that awesome? Black Lantern Wonder Woman is awesome. 

Now comes the not awesome at all bit:

She looks like she well I don't want to say haha. However she is actually wearing more clothes than the average Star Sapphire. And that's all I am going to say on that, except one thing, which is probably my favourite Green Lantern page ever:

So enough about that. Before I move on to my final part of this blog entry, here is the design of Straczynski's Wonder Woman. By the way I haven't decided if I want to read his Wonder Woman yet, but her design is my favourite Wonder Woman design by far. 

Finally we come to a graphic novel I fell in love with and gave me a genuine drive to become a Wonder Woman fan. That graphic novel is Brian Azzarello's Wonder Woman volume 1: Blood.

I have a description of a trope that I call The "My" Doctor trope. Basically the trope refers to an era in a series that is cherished by a fan because it was their first, or at least the first where they really got into a series.  The trope name comes from Dr. Who, my first doctor was the 11th so the 11th will always be held highest in my heart, regardless of how good the other 10 actors may be. 

Anyway "My" Wonder Woman is Azzarello's, because it is the first I have read where I genuinely want to buy Wonder Woman, and not just read some out of boredom or the desire to say I have read the character. 

This is just guess work, since I am a Wonder Woman noob, so people may or may not have these at the front of their minds, but it is something that has been in my subconscious for a long time. 

Wonder Woman as pop art:

Wonder Woman as one of the Holy DC Trinity:

Wonder Woman as just another superhero:

To be fair I prefer superheroes on the whole solo with their own mythos for each character. Anyway the point I was making was Azzarello gets back to what makes it interesting to me: the mythology. I can't really say much about the graphic novel itself because I dislike spoilers, and I especially hate spoiling stuff I love.

Here's a quick list of what makes Azzarello's Wonder Woman (As of volume 1) good:

• A return to the mythology. As much as I like mythos in stories, I prefer my mythologies with Gods thank you, not arguably metahumans or aliens lol
• A focus on Wonder Woman and her world rather than Wonder Woman and her relation to the other big 2, the JLA etc
• This is where i have to be careful what I say for spoilers, but deities who at first I wasn't sure of their character designs then saw their brilliance

And now for some pictures I liked, to round off this blog entry. 

And hopefully I added a little Wonder to your day! Over to you Norman Osborn!

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of wonder and Wonder Woman. 

It's the moon!

The moon has been mystifying us and been a symbol of our sensuality and romanticism for thousands of years if not longer. In the collective consciousness it has been symbolic of beautiful things like goddesses, magic and mankind's desire to go beyond the heavens above us. It has also been symbolic of monstrous curses and illusions.

I was in a pub with some friends after the last comics evening 6 days ago, and they inspired this blog entry. We were talking about the beauty of the game Majora's Mask and that conversation planted the seeds to this little blog entry. So this is dedicated to you, Faye Stacey, Tom Graham and Jack Fallows!

Now let's get to my top 3 creepy moons with faces ever:

#3:

The Mighty Boosh moon, a fairly creepy but sagely and witty moon.

#2: 

The Soul Eater Moon, a disturbing moon of insanity and madness.

#3:

The Majora's Mask moon, and in my opinion the most malevolent moon that has ever been created. It fills the soul with despair, panic and a terror of absolute destruction. Good thing masks of a fierce deity are scattered throughout the human heart, small fragments of burning hope in the omnidirectional darkness. 

Now for something a little bit- lighter, beautiful images in the context of the moon!

Here are some moon related videos, I hope you enjoy!

And I leave you there, with the singular defining song of my childhood! Over to you Norman Osborn!

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern! Today I approve of: moons and mooniness!

Crane, Poole and Schmidt sued me and won my heart

That is the intro to one of my favourite TV programmes which I have just finished for the first time: Boston Legal. Usually I hate things about law firms and courtrooms, especially big American dramas of them. I don't usually find them entertaining and certainly find them repetitive and too serious. I love things like Daredevil, Phoenix Wright and Harvey Birdman: Attorney at law!

Let me get to the point from the outset: Boston Legal is clever, varied, funny, sometimes silly and absurd yet at other times moving and heart touching. Some of the characters change, but all of them can be fascinating and unique. 

The last scene is just beautiful and wonderful. 

Here's just a little something I have found for the characters. 

Carl Sack- I didn't like him at first- he seemed a bit too inflexible but then things changed!

Jerry Espensen- a brilliant lawyer with or without his prop cigarette

Katie Lloyd- a British lawyer who is kind and radiates a stereotypical cheeriness!

Paul Lewiston- he is quite a by the book fellow, in being that way helping maintain stability.

Ten-hut! Make way for the ex-marine Brad Chase!

Watch out Denise Bauer! 

Lori Colson is aware there might be a wild Alan Shore lurking. 

Oh no he dit'nt! Clarice Bell in action!

Not to forget these:

And of course, the man, the legend: 

Over to you Norman Osborn!

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. That's a canny good show like. Today I approve of: 

Denny Crane!

Celebrity Homes

This is the third time I have had the pleasure to write a blog about something a friend has created, or been creatively involved in. The first was my piece on Sugar Glider, my second on Driver San Francisco and now my third is on Celebrity Homes, a book written by my friend and fellow Paperjam Comics Collective member Lydia Wysocki. This isn't a review but a blog entry on what I liked about the book and what I got from it. This blog entry will focus on 3 sections: the sense of humour, the subject itself and what else I liked.

Before that a note on the cover: I think it is well drawn and I love the grass effect!

The sense of humour

• The bread tree joke
• Some puns scattered throughout
• Satire of empty modern celebrities, but also of some older celebrities
• Not just that but polite and witty mentions of other people
• To top this section off, I will say that there is also a strong sense of fun, intelligent and well educated humor

The subject itself

• Although I am more a symphonic metal fan myself, the book intrigues me to musicians I have heard of but haven't really had a chance to get into yet such as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and Hank Williams
• I am already a fan of both Elvis Presley and Bob Marley though
• The book is by no means just about musical celebrities, it has a generous amount about writers too, which is actually Quite Interesting
• Particularly impressive in this regard is the piece on George Orwell, and I am VERY much a fan of his work

What else I liked

• The sense of a journey, both of the individual celebrities and of the homes Lydia visited which became research for the book
• The artwork is beautiful in both detail and variety of different types of homes portrayed
• Also the chapter covers are engaging
• I found there to be many relatable and interesting points, most notably the bit about B & Bs, the word 'geek' and the word 'hip'
• Not to forget a point on English literature and curriculum I agree entirely with
• The fact that I own one of 100 copies of the first print!
• A portion of the book sales being donated to a good cause
• Proper acknowledgement of people who helped make the book
• Thank yous to people Lydia has not met
• A good FAQ section 

Here is a link to where you can buy the book online: http://www.comicsy.co.uk/hellolyd/store/products/celebrity-homes/

Over to you Norman Osborn!

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: well written books such as Celebrity Homes.

Objection! Villainous breakdown alert!

It's been a while! Those who know me know that my favourite game series of all time is Phoenix Wright. Usually I try to go in depth with my geekery but not this time. Ironically because of the nature of the games, this post is meant to be light hearted.

WARNING, MILD SPOILERS AHEAD!

One of my favourite elements of Phoenix Wright is the villainous breakdowns, in which you have finally brought a killer to justice and they reveal their true ugly selves via a dramatic and quite often hilarious breakdown. Not all of these breakdowns are from killers, but if not then they will be accomplices or have committed some crime related to the murder.

But enough of my preamble!

Here are my top 12 villain reaction shots, they are not in chronological order.

#12: Bubble Beam!

#11: Squidgy Face!

#10: My hat seems to be chewy pizza dough!

#9: Lawlz! XD

#8: 1000 hairs of death!

#7: Freizaaaaaaaa!

#6: Head Banging extreme!

#5: Roaaaaaarrrrrr!

#4: The Penguin has been foiled Batman!

#3: Scratchy scratchy face!

#2: Kaboom!

#1: Danger, danger, high voltage!

Now it is time for Norman Osborn to have his approval of the day!

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: Objections! Take that! (the Phoenix Wright phrase not the pop group) Hold It! And Villain Breakdowns!