Superheroes 85 - World Comic Book Review

About the Death of Many Cats

October 21, 2016December 2, 2015 by Neil Raymundo

“Scarlet Witch #1” Marvel Comics, December 2, 2015 Writer: James Robinson “Scarlet Witch #1” is part of Marvel Comic’s All-New, All-Different (ANAD) rebranding campaign. The proposition is that the role and visual identities of established superheroes are taken over by other characters. There is a palpable sense of invigoration attached to the process, and especially … Read more

Out of the Dust

October 21, 2016November 21, 2015 by DG Stewart

Old Man Logan #1, #2 [review]
Marvel Comics, November 2015, December 2015
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Review by DG Stewart, 21 November 2015

Under the moniker “Secret Wars”, Marvel Comics have recently and confusingly sewn together several of its character continuities in a way which is utterly impenetrable to the casual reader. The idea is entirely and brazenly commercial: to ensnare readers into buying more than the one regular series by smearing the plot amongst many series. For those who do not succumb to this, plots of individual comics are turned to staccato mush.

The Fine Line Walked

October 21, 2016October 1, 2015 by DG Stewart

DC Comics Bombshells #1 [review]
(DC Comics, October 2015)
Writer: Marguerite Bennett
Review by DG Stewart, 1 October 2015

American publisher DC Comics have recently released a series of statues of some of its female characters under the brand “DC Comics Bombshells”, each with a bishoojo style appearance. “Bishoojo” is the Japanese word for “beautiful girl” and is a term used to describe characters of youthful, attractive appearance in Japanese manga. Bishoojo style has become increasingly sexual over the years. The DC Comics Bombshells statues themselves are a mix of sugary innocence and provocative sexuality, orientated towards a certain demography of collectors.

Which is why the first issue of DC Comics Bombshells is a surprise. DC Comics had, a few years ago, abandoned the World War 2 origins of many of its major characters and realigned its continuity for the 21st century. But DC Comics Bombshells takes the reader back to the 1940s. The writer, Marguerite Bennett, reasonably explains the focus on exclusively female characters in the book by noting that all men in the 19040s United States were at war (albeit an early war – Ms Bennett postulates a reality where the United States joined England and France in fighting Nazi Germany pre-Pearl Harbour). The story captures the 1940s nostalgia of Roy Thomas’ All-Star Squadron (1981-1987) but with more fun, and the sassiness of Dave Stevens’ The Rocketeer (1982) but with more class.

Charisma, fetishism, homosexuality, and violence: Midnighter #1 [review]

October 21, 2016July 5, 2015 by DG Stewart

Midnighter # 1 (DC Comics, 2015), written by Steve Orlando and with art by Aco and Hugo Petrus, features a character who is very different from most of its superhero peers.

By way of example, Midnighter’s Grindr profile, set out on the fourth page of the first issue, is most amusing:

Name: M
Currently: Single
Looking for: Dates, friends, sparring
Interests: Violence (inventive)
Chronically new in town.
Computer in brain.
Superhumanly flexible.
Generally uses flexibility for justice.
Looking for other uses.
Have head butted an alien.
Whatever you are thinking the answer is most likely yes.
But with punching.

The American superhero scene is engorged with muscle-bound heterosexual altruists. This has been a state of affairs dating back to the late 1930s. Aside from a influx of militaristic cyborgs in the 1990s, superhero comics have generally featured straight bachelors, wearing clinging acrobat tights adorned with capes, with superpowers.