Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Yet More Recent Classic Fairy Tale Re-Imagining Awesome

A Couple Of Wandering Heroes
Okay, previously on . . . it started getting really cool with the western elements starting to come to the fore. Also, new character Jack with his goose named Goldy debuted, to much hilarity. Rapunzel beat up a (somewhat inept) gang of kidnappers and rescued the kidnappee . . . kidnapee? Kidnapped kid. But the kid's father decided it was cheaper to arrest Rapunzel and Jack than pay them any reward money, so they had to escape a hanging. Rapunzel doesn't want to keep thieving, so pledges that as soon as her mother is rescued, they'll give everything back, and makes Jack promise not to steal anymore. Of course, first they have to rescue her mother from Gothel. Oh, and Jack bestowed the nickname "Punzie" on Rapunzel. She . . . didn't like it.

So now begins the third and pen-ultimate chapter, "Banditry in The Badlands."

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

More Recent Classic Fairy Tale Re-Imagining Awesome

Step 4: Profit
So previously, Rapunzel grew up in Mother Gothel's villa until her twelfth birthday when she learned her real history and got put in a prison on top of a tree for four years, after which she escaped with the help of her over-long hair. She managed to dodge the interest of a pompous popinjay who would have treated her badly and set off on the path to adventure.

That was the first chapter, and like I said, it was nice and all, but maybe not that awesome. Not yet. The second chapter, "Rustling up Some Grub," is where things start getting interesting. New characters are added, more action and adventure happens, and we (and Rapunzel) start learning a lot more about the world.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Recent Classic Fairy Tale Re-Imagining Awesome

Retelling classic stories is a practice as old as the stories themselves. Classic myths and fairy tales, being an oral tradition, were told and retold with minor changes and such for millennia before writing was invented. However, mostly, these retellings were aesthetically similar since, you know, everything was a period piece back then. Not until relatively recently did bizarre reimaginings occur. Reimaginings, is that a word? Well, it is now.

The most popular reimagining setting is in outer space, because space is cool. Somewhere behind that is the western. Which is where we're going with today's little patch of ridiculously awesome, Rapunzel's Revenge, by Shannon and Dean Hale and drawn by Nathan Hale (no relation). In case the title doesn't clue you in, it's a retelling of the classic story about Rapunzel, the girl in the tower with magically long hair. Only it's set in the wild west.

And is awesome.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Classic Video Game Adaptation Awesome

I was going to do something special but then life got in the way. It happens, and it's not like this is my job, just something I do every Wednesday for fun.

I was never sure if I would do manga or not, but it turns out, yes, I will.

And I've got an unofficial "awesome females in comics" theme going this month, so I thought I'd continue.

The Metroid franchise is a meandering game series of exploration and massive damage starring the quintessential cool video game bounty hunter Samus Aran. Her most recent outing, Metroid: Other M was at best mixed. It didn't have the exploration, it was too linear, it wasn't that good a game, it told its story clumsily for the most part, and it turned a cool, philosophical stoic tough chick into a shellshocked, emotionally traumatized puppet too easily subjugated by someone she highly respected who isn't even her superior officer and should be grateful she's there to rescue him . . . er, that aside, we're not here to talk about the games, we're here to talk about "The Metroid Manga" by Ishikawa Kenji.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Recent Near-Superhero Awesome

What A Great Way To Orient The Reader Into The Kind Of Story They're About To Get.
Maybe I'm just still on a "girl-power" kick from last week, but immediately after posting about 15-Love, I remembered another really cool comic that came out in the last decade starring an awesome girl main character. Or maybe it's just The Avengers hoopla and Joss Whedon related saturation from the movie, but this week, we're gonna talk about one of his first works for comic books, 2003's Fray, by Joss Whedon (words) and Karl Moline and Andy Owens (pencils and inks, respectively).

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Recent Non Super Hero Awesome

I don't know why, but good stories for girls are not always easy to find. I mean, okay, I know why, but I'm not gonna get into it That's not the kind of discussion this blog is here for. But still, good stories for girls are rare, and good comics for girls sadly rarer. Rare-er? More rare. So when, last year, Marvel comics put out a three issue mini-series that was pretty much meant to cater to a female audience, it was a surprise, even though it had been announced several years prior. That it was also a really good story was also a surprise, and a nice one. In the past few years, however, there has been something of a more concerted effort to create stories for girls about girls, which is great. That they are producing these stories for girls about girls that are also good stories is even better. Which brings us today to 15-Love by Andi Watson (writing) and Tommy Ohtsuka (art).

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Modern Cancelled Awesome

It's The Again That Makes A Possibly Clever Remark Into A Humorous Remark
The recent reboot DC went through was certainly controversial. Whether it was the right move or not has been debated back and forth a bunch, but DC comics has had more comics in the top 10 bestsellers list since the reboot than in years, so from a purely business standpoint, it was the right thing to do.

From a creative standpoint? Well, there have been, in my opinion, more misses than hits, but those hits have almost all been knocked out of the park. There have also been several surprisingly good series that sort of came out of nowhere to be more interesting than they had any right to be. Despite this, at issue eight, they were still cancelled. Which brings us to Blackhawks #8, written by Mike Costa with art by "CAFU" and "BIT."

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Classic Crossover Awesome

HE CAN ACCOMPLISH THE IMPOSSIBLE!
I'll say this right away, I'm not as good with the Marvel Universe as I am with the DC Universe. DC is my neighborhood, it's where I live--up until the reboot, it still managed to keep that comfortable feeling and I always felt properly oriented. But that doesn't mean I hate Marvel. Quite the contrary, when I was a kid and just starting reading comics, most of the comics I read were Marvel stuff. While that was because my dad was buying the comics, and I was kinda beholden to his tastes . . . Marvel Comics were at what I still believe to be their creative zenith. At this period, just about every single Marvel Comic on the stands were incredible in one way or another. Heck, people who have been reading comic books as long as I have--or longer--still point to various stories from Marvel in the mid-to-late 70s to the mid-to-late 80s as being some of if not the best superhero comics ever told. It's not that good comics didn't come out before or after, or that there aren't any better comics. Don't be ridiculous. It's just that there was such a concentration of really freakin' good superhero comics at the time, it's remembered really fondly by a lot of people. In my opinion, Marvel Comics as a whole has never been better. Sure, individual series may have reached higher points at other times, but as a whole? Mid-70s to late 80s Marvel. Which brings us to one of those comics from around that time period. Secret Wars by Jim Shooter and various artists.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Modern Fad Awesome


I Wish Chances To Say Stuff Like This Happened To Me More OftenComic books are a strange beast. For the longest time, superheroes weren't the major genre comics had. As time went on, other interests became more prominent, and so there were Westerns and there were Sci-Fi comics, and there were Romance comics, and (just before superheroes came back as the big thing in comics in the 60s) there were Monster comics, and so on and so forth. Even when Superheroes came back, there would occasionally be something called the "fad super" a traditional superhero who had some basic hook based around a silly fad, trying to capitalize on the fad's successes. Marvel's Dazzler (disco), or Ghost Rider (stunt-cycling and horror stories), or Rocket Racer and Night Thrasher (skateboarding), DC's Vibe (breakdancing), heck, even Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (ninjas initially, but the "four word humanoid team" name thing that rode the wave of TMNT's success was a fad of its own that quickly descended into parody). As you can see, just because a super hero's concept is based around a cultural fad that often has vanished from the cultural consciousness even only a few years after its creation (or may already be on the downswing by the time comics get to it) doesn't mean the hero is a bad idea and will fade away. Strong writing can keep a character going long after his or her fad has died. And that brings us to America's Got Powers #1, by Jonathan Ross and Bryan Hitch.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Classic Comic Awesome

This week on Nerdiodrome, where we find awesome comic book stuff and share with the world wide web: BATMAN VS. NINJA ASSASSIN GUYS
Batman sees you

Friday, March 30, 2012

Comic Book Awesome Can Come In Different Flavors

I wasn't planning on doing this until next week. For one thing, I hadn't decided on a full format for this place. The concept of celebrating awesomeness in comics and awesome comic books is a good idea, but how do I present the stuff I find? I have several ideas, but the only way to do it is to do it.