Showing posts with label comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comics. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Crisis on Infinite Earths

This month is the 30th anniversary of the the biggest event in comics history.  Well. At least from my point of view.  In truth if it had not been for 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths we would not have seen a lot of the big events in comic we have seen over the last 30 years.  That can be good or bad.


Sure Marvel's Secret Wars predates it by almost 6 months, but Crisis was a much bigger deal to me.
At the time I was reading a lot of sci-fi and I loved the idea of alternate Earths, parallel dimensions and all that good stuff.  One of my favorite books from the time was Fredrick Pohl's "The Coming of the Quantum Cats" (1986) and Robert A. Heinlein's "Job, A Comedy of Justice" (1984).

I have always wanted to do my own Crisis-like arc.  Back in the day it wasn't too difficult of a prospect.  Back then we all played in Oerth. Greyhawk was the campaign setting of choice.  The idea was to do a huge Crisis like event and in the end have all of our worlds merged into one.

Later I thought about doing it with different systems; where each Earth was represented by a different game system.

Needless to say it has left a deep imprint in my psyche.

Now in DC we are coming up the new Multiversity.
The optimistic would say it has been all part of a larger super-arc.  The pessimist would say that DC is out of ideas and cashing in on their last good one 30 years ago.

One day I will do a Crisis-like campaign in one of my games.  Maybe something like CoIE where it is a large in scope but limited in duration sort of mini-campaign.

In any case I am sure it would be fun.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

DC Cancels Batwoman

DC is pulling the plug on the Batwoman comic with issue #40 being the last.

It is sad but not really a surprise.  Sales, and frankly the creativity, of the series has been lagging since J.H. Williams III and Haden Blackman left title in an editorial scuffle over Kate and Maggie's relationship.

Batwoman was one of the best looking comics around, great art and style from J. H. Williams III who had a very clear vision of who and what Kate Kane/Batwoman was.


As I have mentioned in the past, Batwoman was more than a distaff Batman.  She had her own mission, her own goals and especially her own demons to deal with.

I, like many, stopped buying the comic after Williams and Blackman left.  It is disappointing, but not a surprise.  Though I guess Greg Rucka is coming back to DC, so there is some hope for her future.

Well. I guess that is what RPGs are for really. To continue telling the stories of the characters we like.

More information:
http://chicasderojo.blogspot.com/2014/12/bad-news.html
http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/105303808536/bye-bye-batwoman-dc-comics-pulls-the-plug

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Whatever Happened to the Teenage Witch?

I don't talk much about Sabrina the Teen-age Witch much here.

I never read the comic, I never watched the Melissa Joan Hart TV show or movies.  I do remember seeing a cartoon of it back in the 80s.

A while back I did do a post about her as a potential Queen of Witches.  But that was it.

Well, not just content with zombies, Sabrina has a new adventure in the Afterlife with Archie comic.


Check out these links for more information.
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/07/23/the-rather-surprising-fate-of-sabrina-the-teenage-witch/
http://lovecraftzine.com/2014/07/24/afterlife-with-archie-issue-6-is-a-comic-every-lovecraft-fan-will-enjoy/

Sabrina Spellman, Queen of Carcosa.

I have to admit. I never saw that coming.




Saturday, July 5, 2014

Zatannurday: Bloodspell

I finally got around to reading the new Zatanna/Black Canary graphic novel Bloodspell.  In short. No one writes Zatanna as well as Paul Dini.


Bloodspell was not what I expected it to be and that is a good thing.  I knew the idea behind bringing these two together was an off the cuff remark by Dini years ago about doing a Zatanna/Black Canary story that he was jokingly referred to as "Trouble in Fishnets".  But this was so much more than that.



The eponymous "Bloodspell" is only a plot device (though it is a good one, more later) to tell the real story.  The story about two very different kinds of women and their long friendship.

When we first see the characters in the book Zatanna is a 12 year old sorceress in training.  Nice cameos here by her father AND mother.  She meets 16 year old Dinah on the top of Mt. Everest.  Zatanna floated up, Dinah climbed. Both to prove they could do it.



We fast forward a number of years to Dinah/Black Canary foiling a heist while undercover. She defeats the baddie, but soon all the members of the heist start dropping dead. Canary takes her concerns to Zee and they discover that Canary is under a Blood curse.    I'll leave it at that since I don't want to spoil the reading.

Like I said though the Bloodspell takes a backseat to the real story. The friendship between Zee and Dinah.  We are treated to a number of "insider" jokes (Green Arrow not having a car anymore because Batman made fun of it) and cameos of Superman, Plasticman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman and of course Green Arrow and Zatara. Plus there are some great scenes too. Zee animating the Black Canary and Green Arrow action figures (all profits of the sales of official JL merchandise go to help the children hurt by super-villains), to Canary mentioning that "the Hawks speak very highly" of Zee (a nod to Zatanna's first appearance in the pages of Hawkman. To what is a good reason for Ollie not to bring expensive glass vases of flowers to Dinah's apartment.



We also get to see via flashbacks important milestones in the friendship of Zee and Dinah.  Zee's first trip to the Watchtower thanks to Dinah (featuring their older costumes) and Zee and Dinah (with Wonder Woman and Plastic Man) battling Granny Goodness and her Female Furies. Also with costumes appropriate to the publishing time.




No one gets Zatanna quite like Paul Dini. This in not the new 52 DC, this is classic DCU and Paul Dini has Zatanna's voice down so well he can make us really feel for her at these different points in her life. He can do powerful Zatanna, stage magician Zatanna and even starry eyed fan girl Zatanna on her first trip to the Watchtower.   Equally he shows us a great evolution of Black Canary from "Loud Mouthed Girl" to founding member of the Justice League.

But just like this is not just Zee's story, it is also not just Paul Dini's.  The illustrations from Joe Quinones bring this to life.  Teenage Zee and Dinah are adorable and quickly sets the stage for how different they are.  The short hair-perm of Zee on the Watchtower easily makes you think that this is still a very young hero.
Quinones has been showing off his work on his blog for a number of months, but one of the real treats with the book are all the sketches in back (with Dini's original script) that show how this project evolved under the creative talents of both men.



For those that are curious does Bloodspell pass the Bechdel Test? This is fair to ask since the book does feature two female leads.  Briefly the test of the media is:
1) Two named female characters
2) who talk to each other
3) about something other than a man.

Bloodspell is passed this test in the first few pages and then went on to pass it over and over again.  Zee and Black Canary are fully realized characters with names. Who spend pages talking to each other on every sort of topic to who gets the money from licensed products, to Zee's tiger, to whether or not stores should give them a bulk-discount on fishnets, to basically recalling years of friendship and kicking evil's ass.  The two main men in their lives are either dead (Zatara) or sidelined (Ollie Queen).  Important to them, but not to this story so much.
It also passes the Mako Mori Test, as both characters have arcs. Well Canaray's arc is more relevant to the story at hand.

Honestly there is nothing I didn't like about Bloodspell.  Black Canary was one of my first super-girl crushes and I have always loved Zatanna.  Paul Dini is a master at his craft and no one can do Zee better.  Quinones is also a master, but in a more subtle way that makes you check every panel to make sure you didn't miss something important.

The story has been described as feeling like it was taken out of the Justice League Unlimited series.  I can totally see that. It actually shares a number of similarities with the Batman the Animated Series episode "Zatanna".

I hope against hope that this is not the only chapter in the adventures of this Dynamic Duo. But it nearly took us 8 years for this one, I hope more won't be as long.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Zatannurday: DC Bombshells

The art of Ant Lucia is not only the focus of some of the new covers for this summer's DC books, but also today's Zatannurday post!

Originator of the DC Bombshells yo can see all his art and the statues of such DC Heroines and Zatanna, Black Canary, Wonder Woman and Batgirl.



The pinup covers are available in June.



But I thin my favorite one is for Batwoman.


I love that it looks like a baseball card.  Her number as 52 is just too perfect.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Zatannurday: Bloodspell

The Zatanna/Black Canary team up graphic novel Bloodspell is on the way!
DC is gearing up for it too which is great.

http://www.dccomics.com/graphic-novels/black-canary-and-zatanna-bloodspell

Joe Quinones has been posting sketches on his blog for a while.
http://joequinones.blogspot.com/search/label/Bloodspell

According to Amazon it looks like it is going to be hardcover too!  So I am quite excited about this.



Only a few more weeks.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Tarot Witch of the Black Rose for Superbabes

I have posted about Tarot before.  Unlike the characters of Superbabes and Femforce, Tarot is often considered to be part of the "Bad Girl Art" type.  Not that she is the opposite of the Good Girl Art, but rather the situations she gets herself in never would have happen to Nightveil or Miss Victory.

I am not going to lie. I like Tarot. Its a guilty pleasure to be sure, but my enjoyment of it is honest.  Plus +HOlly Golightly and creator Jim Balent are both really cool.

Tarot in Superbabes is actually a good fit.  She has some magic, some skills and combat ability and certainly the chance to earn Bimbo Points.  If you read the comic then yeah. She does some really cool comic things, but then ends up loosing her clothes while sledding due to some faeries (ok to be fair the whole vacationing lot, Jon, Mother and Raven, did too).

Character: Tarot, Witch of the Black Rose
Secret ID / AKA: Rowan
Age: she isn't saying   Apparent Age: mid 20s
Origin: Supernatural Pupil (50cp)
50 CPs

Primary Stats
Muscles: 14  Max Press: 700
Health: 17 ("Buxom" seems right)  Regen, Combat: - Regen, At rest: 1pp/3rds  HTK/Day: 2d10
Moves: 19 ("Fast")  Bonus to hit: +3 Movement: 8" Hittability: 8 Initiative Bonus: 1
Brains: 16  Mental Attack Bonus: +1 Mental Hittability: 5
Will: 19  Regen Rate: 1pp/2rds HTK Regen/Day: 1d6+3
Personality: 18 ("Sparkling")
Looks: 51 ("So gorgeous she is hard to look at")
308 CPs

Secondary Stats
PP: 154
HTK: 50
Fame: 5/15 (normal/supernatural world)
Bimbo Points: 1 (there will be more)
XP: 15,002 ("Big Leaguer")
Level: 9 ("Junior Heroine")
CPs: 4 more to spend

Powers
Magic Spells (Tarot admits she is still a student here)
- Blast 4d6 (48cp)
- Flight 10 (80cp)
- Force Field 10 (60cp)
- Go Places (teleport) (200cp)
Healing II 100cp
Visions of Elsewhere 40cp
Visions of the Past 30cp
588 CPs

Gizmos
Armor (Invulnerability 4)
Sword of the Goddess (free gizmo)
20 CPs

Skills
Occultist 50 cp (gained for free at 1st level)
First Aid 20cp
Melee Weapon (Sword) 10cp
Persuasion 20cp
Blind Fighting 25cp
Contacts (Supernatural) 20cp
Survival 20cp
Weaponsmith 25cp
140 CPs

Character Description
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 140 lbs
Hair: Red
Eyes: Green
Skin: Caucasian
Unique Characteristics: She has a black rose tattoo/birthmark on her left shoulder.

All in all not a bad fit.  I like her at 9th level which lines up nicely with her other builds.
She has a winged cat familiar named Pooka as well as a two lovers, Skeleton Man (Jon Webb) and Boo Cat (a werecat).  Given how often they are endangered or get Tarot into trouble they should be worth a couple of Bimbo incident-free Bimbo Points.

Links to other Tarot stats
And Tarot's home on the Internet http://www.jimbalent.com 

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Zatannurday: Super-Team Family

I have featured Zatanna covers from the great Super Team Family blog in the past.  But recently they hit their 1000th post and it featured two of my favorites.  Zatanna and Harry Potter.



Love the cards.

Other Zatanna covers are just as great.

This one of Zee and Doctor Strange would make for a great story, or adventure!


I personally think she could take him.

And one of my favorites,


Zee always seem to have the upper hand in these.  As it should be!

Great job.  Looking forward to more.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Zatannurday: The Fishnets Brigade

It looks like the oft-rumored Zatanna-Black Canary team-up is going to happen.
The news comes from Paul Dini himself.


Here is the link,
http://comicsalliance.com/black-canary-zatanna-graphic-novel-preview-paul-dini-joe-quinones-announcement/

And here is the awesome Joe Quinones cover.  Yup. These are the pre-52 continuity.


Black Canary is another fave of mine so I am really looking forward to this one.   Visit the link above to see more great art.  I am looking forward to the background story of when Zee and Canary were younger.  Plus seeing a pre-dead John Zatarra (and not brought back to life) is also fun.

Dini will do a great job. He is the only guy that loves Zatanna more than me.

Sucks I have to wait till May 2014.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Zatannurday: Bloodspell

A recent posting on Paul Dini's Facebook page got my attention.

A draft cover for the oft delayed Zatanna/Black Canary team up comic.


 Joe Quinones is doing the art and I have featured some bits from him before but here are a few more from his blog.


I like Zee's mystical robes here.

Hopefully we will get to see this soon!


Saturday, March 2, 2013

Red Sonja: She Devil with a Sword: Gail Simone on Red Sonja #1

Reblogged from Red Sonja: She Devil with a Sword: Gail Simone on Red Sonja #1

From: http://robojapan.blogspot.com/2013/03/gail-simone-to-wield-red-sonjas-sword.html
and http://www.wired.com/geekmom/2013/03/red-sonja-gail-simone/
and http://www.comicsalliance.com/2013/03/01/red-sonja-gail-simone-dynamite-comics-emerald-city-2013-fiona-staples/

Gail Simone, one of the biggest names in comics right now, is taking up the sword and mail bikini of Red Sonja in a new Red Sonja #1.
In addition cover art will be done by Fiona Staples, Nicola Scott, Colleen Doran, Jenny Frisson, and Stephanie Buscem

Here is Fiona Staples art for Issue #1.


According to Simone:
"It's like this...even most of the best female heroines when I was a kid were pretty polite. What I love about Sonja is that she isn't polite, she says what she means and if you give her any lip about it, hello, sword in the gut. She's smart, she has a heart, she has some compassion. But when it's go time, she's a hellraiser, a mad general, she's a sword edge virtuosa, she's death on wheels. She is the woman you never want to mess with. I can relate, Sonja. No offense to all her guy writers, but THIS Red Sonja is about sex and swords! It's everything you love about Red Sonja, except with more monsters getting stabbed in the eye."
Red Sonia #1 is out in July.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Zatannurday: Tempting Fate

I have talked about Dr. Fate here before in relationship to Zatanna.

Over at the Tower of Fate there are some new Zatanna/Fate "crossover" images and posts.

DC Dark Characters
http://toweroffate.blogspot.com/2013/01/some-dc-dark-characters-art-by-eddy.html

DC Mystic Cosplay
http://toweroffate.blogspot.com/2013/01/dc-mystic-characters-cosplay.html
More images are here: http://rarityfleur.deviantart.com/

Dr. Fate Art featuring Zatanna
http://toweroffate.blogspot.com/2013/01/dr-fate-art-featuring-zatanna.html
With more images here: http://mantisstudiocomics.deviantart.com/

Despite their similar powers I have not found too many stories that feature them both.
There is the Young Justice episode, but I can't find anything in the comics proper.

So here are some of YJ Zatanna as Dr. Fate,


Zatanna's Fate by *inspector97 on deviantART


Zatanna is Doctor Fate by *Glee-chan on deviantART


Doctor Fate by ~King-of-Losers on deviantART


Doctor Fate Zatanna. by ~Hero-sketch on deviantART


Fated by ~Sherlockmysteries on deviantART

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Zatannurday: Into 2013!

We are nearing the very end of 2012 and the last Zatannurday of the year.

I thought it might be nice to get a preview of the new year and next weeks Justice League Dark.



Looking forward to reading this arc! (Once I catch up of course.)

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Zatannurday: Zatanna Covers

Recently the Justice League Detroit Blog recently did a post  on the top 20 Zatanna covers.  It is worth checking out.
http://justiceleaguedetroit.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-top-20-zatanna-covers.html

While I liked the covers that were picked I didn't always like the reasons or the order.
So here are some of my favorite covers and why.  I am not putting them in any particular order.


Up first a Catwoman cover from Catwoman 50.  I like how you know this is a Catwoman book but Zee is larger  than life.  Plus it is a great bit of art and sets up the story well.


Zatanna #1 of the legendary Paul Dini run.  MUST reading for any Dini or Zatanna fan.


Not the first Justice League Dark cover, but I like how Zee is front and center here.   Surrounded by magic and featuring her new costume.  Love the look on her face. 


I rather like this one. It has all the things we expect to see in a Zatanna cover except for maybe her top hat.


 Fishnet on the arms didn't start in JLC.  I love how her eye seems to be glowing.


Love this cover too.  I like the black/dark blue lipstick.


 Everyday Magic is just a great collection I love the title.  I also love this cover.  Zee is not hyper-sexualized, but still attractive and feminine in her tux.  Plus I dig the boots.



More stars and more "Cute" Zee.  I like Adam Hughes art and I think he does a particularily good job of drawing women that look like women.  Like Frank mentions on Justice League Detroit. This reminds that Zee can be sweet, but she is no stranger to the dark.  Speaking of which...


I am on record as not being a big fan of Identity Crisis.  But it is/was such a pivotal moment in the history of the character I would be remiss if I didn't include it.  Plus this cover has other things going on.  First it features Zee in her "Supers" costume.  Not often seen anymore.  Also she is once again front and center here.  She is the focus, not the Gods standing around her.


An iconic cover.  More of the fishnet gloves too.


I like this cover. It has a lot of the iconic Zatanna imagery.  Her hat, fish nets, magic.  It has been said that among the supers a woman in a tux, top hat, tails and fishnets looks sorta...well dull.  I don't think so.  They have messed with her style before and this really is the one that works the best.


Going back a bit here.  This is the collection of the earliest Zatanna stories.  The cover is newer than that rest of the book, but that is cool.  I think it also very evocative of what Zatanna is all about.

There are others to be sure.  But these are the ones I most wanted to talk about.

Friday, November 30, 2012

TBBYANR: Two "new" blogs

Well they are new to me.

D20 Dark Ages
http://d20darkages.blogspot.com/

D20 Dark Ages is run by Stelios a writer and historian.  The blog mostly focuses on his one gaming exploits from the time period of 1989 to now.  There is a strong old-school vibe to his blog and details on what really were the Dark Ages in my mind as well, the period of the death of TSR but before 3.0.

Interesting site and I hope to see a lot more.

Comiccritique
http://comiccritiqueblog.wordpress.com/

Coniccritique was turned on to me by an old friend.  It's not an RPG blog, but as the name suggests, a comic review blog.  There is quite a bit of good critical insight.  It is a work in progress, but the writing is good.
I enjoyed his reviews of Batwoman and Justice League Dark and honestly he reminded me why I was reading two of the best New52 comics.

So go out read them, follow them.  I am expecting them both to get bigger and better.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Zatannurday: When Zee met John

Justice League Dark #0 will be out next week.

In it we get a new perspective on when John Constantine met Zatanna.

I don't recall if this has ever been covered before.  In the Books of Magic it was understood that they were once a thing and not anymore.

Looking forward to seeing this one. I have not been keeping up on JLD, though I do have them in my queue at Comixology.

We also get a new (old) outfit for the younger Zatanna.  I have to admit I like it, though I do miss the fishnets.