Monthly Archives for July 2011

guess I was wrong

 

 

 

 

So the same day I go off on an “uhhhm I don’t think this is the best way to achieve what we want” thing concerning women creating comics… well, apparently it is?

From the DC blog:

Friday, July 29th, 2011

By DC Comics’ Co-Publishers

Over the past week we’ve heard from fans about a need for more women writers, artists and characters. We want you to know, first and foremost, that we hear you and take your concerns very seriously.

We’ve been very fortunate in recent years to have fan favorite creators like Gail Simone, Amy Reeder, Felicia Henderson, Fiona Staples, Amanda Connor, G. Willow Wilson and Nicola Scott write and draw the adventures of the World’s Greatest Super Heroes.

DC Comics is the home of a pantheon of remarkable, iconic women characters like Wonder Woman, Lois Lane, Batgirl, Batwoman, Catwoman and Supergirl as well as fan favorite characters like Black Canary, Katana, Mera and Starfire. We’re committed to telling diverse stories with a diverse point of view. We want these adventures to resonate in the real world, reflecting the experiences of our diverse readership. Can we improve on that? We always can—and aim to.

We’ll have exciting news about new projects with women creators in the coming months and will be making those announcements closer to publication. Many of the above creators will be working on new projects, as we continue to tell the ongoing adventures of our characters. We know there are dozens of other women creators and we welcome the opportunity to work with them.

Our recent announcements have generated much attention and discussion and we welcome that dialogue.

Best-

Jim Lee & Dan DiDio
DC Entertainment Co-Publishers

Project Runway redux

Yes yes, I know what I said about Project Runway.

I said I was bored. I said I thought I was over it. I said I would give them one more chance but I would have to be blown. away. in order to keep watching.

Well.

Tim and Heidi did it. They got me back.

Starting with the “Road to the Runway” special, where we saw them narrow it down to the 20 semi-finalists, I was hooked by the people. There are some dramatic personalities up in here. And a lot of them make some pretty awesome clothes.

And of course I have some favorites…

  • Becky Ross—I love her “rock ‘n’ roll pin-up” style, like, LOVE (though I wasn’t actually as impressed with her look in the first challenge)
  • Bryce Black—chic and fabulous at the same time
  • Anthony Ryan Auld—love his quirky style and his attitude

And of course I can already tell a few who are going to annoy me…

  • Cecilia has, um, a bit too much personality for me…
  • Danielle and her feminist see-through clothes and her super sweet attitude are going to get on every one of my nerves, I can tell already
  • and Anya is just too… good. like, how dare she learn how to sew four months ago?

I’m sorry David Chum was the first one out and didn’t make it past the semi-finals, I loved his coats and he’s a local Boston boy. :-(

But yeah, so. They’ve got me. I’m a little concerned because they opened with a twist on an old challenge—but at least it was a twist.

So. I’ll play your game, Heidi Klum. For now.

first official gracetopia comics digest, 7/29/11

So I’ve decided to do my comics writing in a once-a-week (usually Friday?) digest format. This will help those who like comics to find it and those who hate comics to avoid it. Yes? Yes!

So!

Welcome to the inaugural Gracetopia Comics Digest! This whole concept is a work in progress, so feel free to comment on what works and what doesn’t.

This week we’ll have some what-I’m-reading, some snark about some Justice League covers, what I ordered from DC’s “New 52,” women at DC, and random goodies.

See it all after the jump…

Continue reading →

comics, incorporated

hey hey hey

Okay so the general consensus seems to be, “whatever, that sounds great,” which is usually the answer when I poll the readers, so expect an uptick in geeky/comicky posts. Currently on the comics blog I’m doing a big artistic judgey thing, but I’ll write an intro post or whatever.

But this probably won’t happen today because, mmmm lazy Sunday.

Captain America, hells yeah

Purely by chance, I ended up at the midnight showing of Captain America in downtown Boston last night.

Purely by chance, so did my younger brother. Perhaps we are related, after all.

Before I start my review, I will sum up my knowledge of Captain America so that you understand where I am coming from: 1) he is patriotic 2) he has a shield 3) he has a sidekick name Bucky—which I only know thanks to recent trips to Target’s action figures aisle. So yes, I come from a world of darkness.

And into the light. Because Captain America was COOL.

It was funny. It was pretty. It was dramatic. It worked. It worked as both a movie and a comic book movie.

It starts, of course, with the origin story. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is a scrawny, chronically ill Brooklyn-ite who wants to join the army. He wants to join the army so badly he’s tried 5 times. But then he meets Dr. Abraham Erksine (Stanley Tucci), who sees in Steve the qualities that make not a soldier, but a hero. This is exactly what Dr. Erksine is looking for, because has the serum to make the hero into a supersoldier.

Meanwhile Agent Smith crazy Nazi Dr. Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) is trying to harness the power of the gods to take over the world, not for Hitler but for his own “scientific” organization called Hydra.

Because that always works.

This is one of those movies where there’s so much cool stuff happening I don’t want to spoil anything. It’s not really a question of plot—it’s a very formulaic superhero plot, you won’t really be shocked by anything. But there’s just so many cool things going on. Like a chorus line Captain America. *zips lips*

Suffice to say that after a brief stint as a media consultant, Steve Rogers aka Captain America charges into Nazi territory to save the world. And he kicks ass, and he takes names.

The movie was put together superbly, from the actors to the costume design to the general milieu. Tommy Lee Jones plays Tommy Lee Jones, which he does quite well. Chris Evans is both an excellent scrawny Steve and an excellent ripped Cap. The 1940s sets and costumes and atmosphere were dead on and oh-so-pretty. I love a good 40s setting.

And there are so many little things in this movie, from an Indiana Jones reference to a quick nod to Dr. Arnim Zola’s future as a robot. (<—why I go to these things with the comic geek BF) Everyone freaked out when Bucky picked up the shield. I think a true Cap geek would find a lot of little hidden treasures.

So, yes, I love the movie. A few minor plot quibbles (“so wait, how did she know—nevermind…”) but it was an awesome ride and the time flew by.

Finally, one kind of major point: Captain America is the first of the comic book movies that has made me want to read the related comics. X-Men, well, I already loved the X-Men. Thor, eh. Batman, eh. But in Captain America there was a whole montage sequence that showed Cap and his team going on dozens of missions—and I want to know what they are. His team looks like fun, and I love the character and setting. I want more.

However, having read the new Captain America issue #1 that came out last week or whenever… I was unimpressed. Marvel, if you’re going to make an awesome movie, you should make sure you’re supporting it with an awesome book.

Because, yeah, awesome move. Go see it.

EDIT: and it probably goes without saying for a Marvel movie but stay through the credits.

query

Hello my darlings.

As you probably know I started a second blog awhile back, Proper Comics for Proper Young Ladies and Gentlemen. It started with a post I made here about Wonder Woman, which got me so excited to write more about comics that I went and made a separate space for it so I didn’t clutter up Gracetopia. I’m now rethinking that decision, mostly because there’s a bunch of stuff that seems to qualify for both places and I don’t want to a) be cross-posting everything or b) have to choose a favorite child.

SO basically what I’m saying is, could you take a second and let me know what you’d think if I brought the Proper Comics content over here? It’s basically a lot of book reviews and musings on costumes (and boobs) and right now I’m in the middle of judging a bunch of covers.

Gracetopia itself wouldn’t change much, I would just be turning the geeky level up to 11.

The Wallet Saga: Part II (now with more sparkle!)

So yesterday this arrived in the mail:

 Yep, that would be the missing wallet. I guess someone did that thing where you can drop a wallet in any mailbox and the post office will take care of it for you. Thanks, Good Samaritan! Thank, Post Office!

Everything was intact except for the cash—I lost about $25. But all my credit/debit cards were there, my driver’s license, my library card—ie, all the things I’ve spent the last week replacing. Le sigh. But I’m glad it was returned, just so I don’t have to worry about my private info sitting in a ditch somewhere.

HOWEVER.

In the interim, I’d already purchased a new wallet. Which I now don’t technically need, since I got the old one back.

But.

But.

SPARKLY.

AND PINK.

It may in fact be the girliest thing I have ever purchased in my life.  And I’ve owned it for all of like 5 hours and I LOVE IT. It’s from Big Skinny, which makes these special super-thin, super-light wallets. It’s like a light fluffy cloud of a wallet. That sparkles. LIKE A VAMPIRE IN THE SUN. (or not.)

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So anyway, I’m torn. It seems wasteful to keep the new wallet. But it’s sparkly.

Oh my life.

#firstworldproblems