The Batmom

Graphic Distraction

For days I’ve hugged my children and shuddered for those parents. I’ve mourned, fretted, and raged online, in between the buying and the wrapping, the list-making and card-signing. I’ve cried in line waiting for my safe child to be released from his safe elementary school and I’ve cried watching my safe children playing with their Christmas toys. Safe.

Between That and This, I’ve had more than enough of the world’s What the Fuckery for a lifetime. I need distractions. I need comic books.

I have a giant teetering pile waiting for my attention. The pile makes me smile. I haven’t actually cracked open any of the books in the pile for the aforementioned choring around, but just looking at their shiny covers gives me a happy zap.

Pop art as electroshock therapy. Comic book store as pharmacy. Yippee zip zoodle, just look at what’s in store. (Store, get it? My comic book store, the phrase “what’s in store?” I am SO en fuego tonight. It must be the beer. Hoponius Union.)

Check out my list (quoted descriptions lifted from book jackets). Marvel at the breadth of subject matter, then away to your local comic book store, which you should be supporting anyway. Santa Belated yourself with a couple of books for late tomorrow night, when the last cup of nog needs kicking and the kids have finally passed out from days of mad, merry frenzy.

Saga, Image Comics, Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples: Recommended by my Twitter friend @AliasJoeG and purchased at NYComicCon.

“When two soldiers from opposite sides of a never-ending galactic war fall in love, they risk everything to bring a fragile new life into a dangerous old world.”

Love and Capes, Thomas Zahler: Rene and I chatted with Zahler at NY Comic Con. Once you hear a comic book creator enthusiastically talk up his creation, you’re compelled by a heady mix of manners and Comic Con binge-ery to buy.

“Abby and Mark are a typical couple. At least, that’s what Abby thinks. Unbeknownst to her, her boyfriend is not just an accountant, but also the super-powered crime fighter, the Crusader. And tonight, Mark’s going to let her in on the secret.”

Birds of Prey, DC Comics, Gail Simone & Ed Benes & Adriana Melo & Alvin Lee: I love writer Gail Simone. Who doesn’t? Possibly the new editor of Batgirl: Simone was been bumped from the book early this month.

WHA? I was bothered and bewildered, because Batgirl for me is all about the voice - witty, self-effacing, crazy smart. I couldn't imagine the voice would soar without Simone.

Christmas came early to Simonians when she was reinstated on the book a few days before Christmas. Woohoo!

Several folks have advised me to read Simone’s run on Birds of Prey, a Gotham-set/Bat-verse series featuring a slew of avian female superheroes, among them Black Canary, Huntress, Lady Blackhawk, Dove and Oracle.

(Oracle used to be Batgirl, before the Joker paralyzed Batgirl, putting her into a wheelchair, from where she became an intelligence/technology/information guru.)

My lub-a-dub Rich bought me two of the books for my birthday last month.

Marceline and the Scream Queens #5&#6, BOOM! Studios, Meredith Gran & Polly Guo: Alas my beloved wild child Marceline is done her solo run. She will return to the pages of Adventure Time, which is a zany, bonkers read you all would enjoy.

Fun trivia: Marceline is released with several covers per issue, each paying tribute to a real-world album cover. The #5 to the right riffs on No Doubt's "Tragic Kingdom."

Locke & Key, IDW Publishing, Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez: I had never heard of Locke & Key when a personable employee of Manhattan’s awesome Midtown Comics recommended it. This guy was not only nice, but honest: He willingly shared names of a slew of books he didn’t like, including anything featuring a superhero.

“Locke & Key tells of Keyhouse, an unlikely New England mansion, with fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them … and home to a hate-filled and relentless creature that will not rest until it forces open the most terrible door of them all.”

For years I snobbed myself away from anything reeking of otherworlds, but once Buffy opened my eyes to the magic of alternate realities, I was hooked. This book promises yet another universe to fall into. (You should never end a sentence with “into” but “another universe in which to fall” sounds clunky. I don’t like clunks with my beer. Just peanuts. Sometimes smokehouse almonds. If I'm lucky, a hunk of Red Dragon.)

Rising Stars, Image Comics, J. Michael Straczynski & Jason Gorder: A Rene rec.

(Verbal digression from "Graphic Distraction": Sometimes I call Rene Ener. Sometimes Rene calls me Annasus. If we ever write a children’s book, our pseudonyms will be Ener & Annasus, AKA our orthonyms backwards. Who ever heard of an orthonym? Not this cotton-headed ninnymuggins, until I googled pseudonym and there she was: orthonym. Not your dental apparatus. Just your name.)

I don’t know what Rising Star is about. The cover doesn’t include blurbies, just a scowling boy, a soft-bellied freakish someone, and a superhero who appears to be related to Captain America.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vertigo Comics, Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill: Rene has been recommending this for ages. Her final recommendation came in the form of the actual book, which arrived via post from the Amazon. Thank you Ener!

"Recruited by the enigmatic Campion Bond, under orders from the mysterious 'M,' these six adventurers are pressed into service by their empire in its time of need. Now they must face the nefarious Doctor and his vile play for world domination. But things are not entirely as they seem; other factors, cryptic and corpuscular, are also at play. A remarkable drama ensues."

Go buy! Go read! Take a look! It’s in a book! A Comics Rainbow!

Make 2013 YOUR Year of Comics!

 

Bullets & Pixels

New York Comic Con is in the merch bag. Happily weary and Salem bound, brain not up to the task of spinning a coherent narrative. Instead I shoot bullets.

Pow Chicka Pow Pow.

• Everyone goes to comic con. The stereotypes spoofed on screen attend en masse, and so does your grandma, your babysitter, your dog-sitter, your dentist. All ages, all colors, all walks of life. And yes, people wear some crazy-ass costumes, a number of them scanty.

• Everyone comes off smart: the longtime Wonder Woman reader who patiently placed my concept of Wonder Woman in historical perspective, the 20-something guy who attended any panel that might help him grow as a writer, and the many comic creators (writers, artists, letterers, colorists, editors) who presented at panels.

These creators’ brains are cultural catalogues, and the compendiums astound. Wonder Woman artists Cliff Chiang and Tony Akins discussed character creation during a Friday panel. I jotted down every cultural reference they made. Check it out:

British footballer Wayne "Wazza" Rooney • Bruce Lee • the leviathans portrayed on antique maps • Victorian funereal photography • Hellboy artist Mike Mignola • Palestinian girls’ clothing from the 1920s and ‘30s • Father Christmas • Japanese hipsters • foxes in Dionysian tradition • Jack Kirby’s Orion • 1990s-era Superboy • Italian motocross racers • swimmers • old Thor comics • Through the Looking Glass • Google Maps • Kurosawa

Impressed? I was.

Sean Astin

• Famous people are charming. Or convincingly fake it.

I attended a Q&A with Sean Astin (The Goonies, Rudy, and in LOTR as my favorite Samwise Gamgee). In the manner of a kind and scruffy history professor, Astin spoke lovingly about Tolkein’s language, which first drew him to the LOTR script. He explained how certain words grab him as an actor, then repeated the word “home” several times, and in such a manner that it became a poem. Home. Home. Home.

(Astonishingly and amusingly, he had never heard of Lord of the Rings before getting the script, and in fact had The Hobbit confused with The Phantom Tollbooth. Starring Elijah Wood as a guy who talks to a dog. Or is that Wilfred?)

Nathan Fillion

Other writers and actors charmed and amused me, including Fables creator Bill Willingham and actress Jewel Staite (Firefly, The L.A. Complex), but only one made me swoon: Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Dr. Horrible, Castle). He showed up unannounced during a Firefly event. (If you haven’t seen Firefly, go rent it. Joss Whedon created the show, a sci-fi/Western hybrid bleeding clever and, accordingly, cancelled after one season.)

When Fillion walked in, my friend Rene and I screamed like 1960s teenagers at a Beatles’ concert. Rather, Rene screamed while I, laryngitis-riddled, aped The Scream. I know roguish charm is Fillion’s thing, and to some extent he’s playing a role, but his Firefly co-stars spoke repeatedly of Fillion’s kindness to everyone on-set, from bottom to top.

Fillion also impressed me by answering crowd questions creatively, rather than offering up glazed perfunctory quips; and by playing the kind of clown that everyone loves but no one fears — he’s not going to make the class laugh by poking fun at you.

• Marketers are brilliant and probably evil. A lot of this conference aimed to get we the people (who paid to get in) to promote stuff. We gathered loads of branded swag (including a Rubik’s Cube and a crown!) and were constantly being asked to tap into social media and share our pop culture happiness with the universe. (This ploy might have worked better had any of us been able to access the Internet during the conference.)

I’m 41 and while I love my twitter (@thebatmom!), I’m also old enough to take what I want from a marketing frenzy and leave the rest. Some of the marketing was fun fun fun: Rene starred as the heroine in a mini-movie, and we got to bust out of the cover of a comic book.

Had I been a gamer, good lord. There must have been hundreds of gaming stations set up on the show floor offerings conventioneers first-shots at updates and new games. I wasn’t inspired to start playing, but I am inspired to rewatch Felicia Day’s funny funny gaming-centric web series The Guild.

• Speaking of brilliant, New York. I lived in Manhattan long ago, for a mostly unhappy year, but had forgotten how every last block offers up something if you’re willing to look: patterened blue and white tiling; golden art deco detailing; a thick, simply handsome wooden door.

• Let’s just keep running with brilliant: my friends.

I spent most of my time with Rene of StrangerInAFamiliarLand. We laughed a lot, especially when she yelled “areola” on a crowded bus, and enabled one another’s comic book-buying excesses.

We had dinner with three college friends; though my memory’s double-glazed with red wine and Benadryl, I think one asked not to be mentioned online, so I won’t. But I will suggest you go buy “Salvage,” and note the evening was such that I now miss all three of them.

Yesterday, I trotted uptown to walk a lovely dog with a lovely friend in October-lovely Central Park. Best of all, my lovely friend sent me home with a new read: Lilian Ross’s Here But Not Here.

Now I’m on the train home, staring at New England out my window and anticipating the sweet faces of my kids, who are still young enough to thrill at my return before asking “Whadja get me?”

I’ll play Santa with a swag bag and then get back to it.

Home. Home. Home.

* P.S. @frogandcode rocks.

* P.P.S. For the real nerds, I heard speak or grabbed signatures from (among others): Tony Akins, Raphael Albuquerque, Brian Azzarello, Greg Capullo, Bernard Chang, Cliff Chiang, Joshua Fialkov, Franco, Aaron Kuder, Scott Snyder, Bill Willingham. I didn’t buy a lot, but I picked up a few recommends from a helpful guy at Midtown Comics – Rising Stars, Saga, Locke & Key - and have a list from random folks who recommended mid-con.

Batgirl 11

 

Batgirl takes on Knightfall's minions on the cover of #11

COVERGIRL: I don’t recognize the face, but the leg move – part cheerleader, part ninja – is signature Batgirl. Gotta be her. 

INSIDE STORY: Knightfall and her crew try to recruit Batgirl to kill bad guys, but Batgirl refuses, whereupon they try to kill her. Detective Melody McKenna, who hates Batgirl and works for Batgirl's father Commissioner Gordon, saves Batgirl and explains Knightfall’s backstory. Detective and Batgirl are getting along nicely, until they’re not.

McKenna wants to know who Batgirl is working for. Batgirl wants to know what McKenna is working on.

As they fight inside McKenna's house, Batwoman lurks outside. We know who she works for: the DEO.

Vedddddy Interesting. 

RAMBLE: Why talk Bats when everyone’s talking Con? Every third person filling my twitter feed is either at San Diego Comic Con or wishing they were.

SDCC is the mama of all Comic Cons, the uber-Con, the Taj MaCon. But other than massive amounts of famous, semi-famous, and niche-famous people and, presumably, tons of cosplay and panels … why are comic cons the end all and be all?

I just lost 2 of my 3 subscribers. Click. Click.

I had a great time at Boston Comic Con. I loved the DC artists’ panel, I thrilled at meeting Cliff Chiang, and I wowed watching Francis Manapul at work. I will go again. Stranger in a Familiar Land and I are going to NYCC in October and, I hope, to Coast City Comic Con (Portland, Maine) in November.

I’m expecting size differences: bigger or smaller crowds, more or fewer vendors, greater or lesser numbers of panels. But flavor differences? Less sure. You’ve seen one group of 20-somethings strutting the halls dressed as Birds of Prey, you’ve seen them all, right?

Not so the comic book store.

I have a personal relationship with my comic book store. The staff knows my kids, they answer my ignorant questions, they advise with intelligence, and rejoice when I rejoice in a new read. I’m not squished, I’m not rushed, and I’ll never in a million years read it all.

Harrison’s pop happiness stretches long, beginning on Essex Street in Salem, kitty-corner from a cheesy statue of Samantha Stephens my kids think is an anthropomorphic jungle gym. Busy windows full of bobbleheads and neon pull in the tourists and locals. The store is full of how-to-draws and lunchboxes and old comics and new comics and stickers and magnets and t-shirts and figurines and Japanese candy and smelly erasers and, at the front counter, an annoying button that says NO 100 different ways.

Two hours southwest of Harrison’s, in old milltown Putnam, Conn., Wonderland Comics sits at the bottom of a street-level stairway and below a row of antique stores. More squat and square than Harrison’s, Wonderland is equally, happily stuffed to the gills. The store boasts a knowledgeable and friendly staff, offers not-so-much for the kids, and houses a strange, slightly scary bathroom with mildly pornographic wall art.

Charlie’s Comics in North Conway, NH: different yet again, and depressingly so. If Harrison’s is Tutti Frutti and Wonderland is Cosmic Cherry Pop, Charlie’s is Imitation Vanilla, poorly stocked, unenthusiastically staffed, and miserably stuck at the lonely end of a shabby, deserted strip mall surrounded by blandly perky outlet malls.

I hope to visit Westside Comics when I’m in Vermont later this month, and I’ve got two Wednesday trips to Wonderland coming up in August. I've got serious decisions to make when I'm in New York for NY Comic Con in October, and I'm hoping to hit Portland, Maine's Coast City Comics and the Coast City Comic Con in November. 

I know what to expect from the comic cons, and I’m looking forward to them. I have no idea what to expect from the comic book stores, and I can’t wait.