Sunday, March 27, 2016

Maybe I'm Just In A Mean, Petty Mood

Maybe I’m just in a mean, petty mood, but with all the disappointment in Rebirth it does my heart good that the artist at the little anime convention who boycotted Keith Giffen and JL3001 over an assumption, who was excited for the new Blue Beetle book will in sticking with her social justice principles have to now boycott Blue Beetle because Giffen’s on it baby!!! Almost makes me want to pick it up in support if not for it being ersatz New52 versions of Jaime and Ted.

Since no one has taken my challenge to come up with actual evidence that Keith Giffen is transphobic, I went back and reread the Giffen interviews myself. He states that the Guy in a girl body plot was not meant to be a trans story. I believe him. Re-reading the comics themselves I’ve concluded that Guy before the reveal was portrayed as a man who doesn’t understand what is to be a woman and is misguided with well-intentions to jump on the strong woman, feminist bandwagon. Wouldn’t you if you woke up one day and lost your male privilege and your body is smaller and weaker? Yes estrogen weakens your muscles and ability to lift. I hang out with trans-women who attest to this. When I transition my strength will increase with testosterone. This is why transpeople are banned from the Olympics. Hormone replacement therapy is legally considered the equivalent of taking steroids, fair or not. So Guy not understanding all the bodily and hormonal changes going on with him will naturally act moody, claim sisterhood then realize he said something he has no business saying as a man and try to pass it off as the hormones. No that’s not how hormones work, but he’s set in his ways enough to think that he ought to identify with his physical body even if he knows he has no right because he’s Guy inside and is still a chauvinist and people expect him to be like that. There. That’s the psychology of a stupid body switch plot. I get it. Some don’t because they want to read whats on paper literally without context and wonder why it doesn’t line up to their trans experience, which is valid, I get uncomfortable with plenty of things that were not meant to be geared towards my experiences and I can explain why it bothers me. It’s not the trans journalists and fans that I have an ax to grind with. It’s the allies with their pretend trans friends. No I’m not saying all allies rallying against this story don’t have trans friends, but sometimes I wonder. Sometimes I wonder if certain allies are jumping on the behalf of trans bloggers and activists they read and then try to speak for trans people like me or my associates in the community because they just assume I’m ignorant of my own rights or feelings without ever realizing they’re like Guy Gardner or maybe Keith Giffen and are ignorant of their own intentions and feelings on the situation. I mean I can’t tell people how they should feel about a story, but it offends me when someone assumes Giffen’s intentions because they met him once and he was a jerk so a jerk must be hateful to all outsiders because... because this story is problematic to her social justice sensitivity. Talking about grasping at straws to build a strawman out of Keith.

I had to lose my little niche book outside the new52 so tptb can cater to haters who can’t stand or have any business reading genetic overwrite plots because they insist it has to be an accurate, sensitive trans plot and it better be done with 20th century science because the 30th century fictional science used is too creepy and improbable to relate to. It’s comics guys. Are sci-fi/fantasy writers barred from exploring body switching and genetic overwrite if it’s between a man and woman from here on out until trans-representation is perfected? Or do we ban all portrayals and explorations because it can be problematic with any kind of body shaming or racelifting? If you’re overwritten with the genetics of someone whose basically the same race, gender, height, weight, etc. you’d still complain because it’s personality raping and that’s triggering and insulting to real rape. Alright I agree, but banning story elements is a slippery slope and for twenty shitty portrayals of this theoretical topic their yields a thought provoking one. Just saying. Cloning is offensive to individuality, cell regeneration is offensive to disabled people, so is cyborg stories, so is robots offensive to humankind. Where do we draw the line in what we can and cannot speculate and how we tell it? Okay I’m getting away from the topic.

One things for certain though, whether presumptuous, artist alley girl doesn’t support her favorite character because of Giffen or breaks her pact and picks it up, it’s a victory. A petty, spiteful one. The book will succeed or crash and burn without her support or it will prove her a hypocrite if she picks it up after all.

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Zeus Is Why I'm Boycotting Batman Vs. Superman Dawn Of Justice

Reasons I Was On The Fence About This Movie:

1. It comes off the heals of Man Of Steel by the same director

2. It’s inspired by Dark Knight Returns

3. Rumors about Wonder Woman’s parentage

4. Jesse Eisenberg Lex Luthor

5. Doomsday

Things That Made Me Slightly Optimistic About This Movie:

1. They’ll address the moral issues and fallout from the destruction of Man Of Steel

2. The conflict between Batman and Superman would have merit unlike DKR, this time around Batman is law and order, Superman is the misfit.

3. Lex Luthor’s parentage, makes the casting sting less irritating, suddenly it makes sense that he’s a spoiled brat

4. I wasn’t pissed about the casting of Ben Affleck or Gal Gadot, I support world weary Batman and Immortal Wonder Woman

5. Batgirl, maybe

What I’ll never support is a WWINO. Wonder Woman In Name Only. Forget you Snyder, you do one good thing by not making Diana’s arc another naive 19-23 year old, new to man’s world story, but you fucked up when you not only decided to put your stamp of approval on a plot element only 4 years old for newbie theater goers to absorb as the DC mythology, damn 70 years of comics, TV Shows and cartoons, but that this early in the game it is now going to be her defining summary. That’s bullshit. We don’t need a Wonder Woman screaming barefoot that she’s the “Daughter of Zeus!!!” at the top of her lungs as that’s her defining point. Thanks Cliff Chiang for that garbage image. I loved your art until you put it to Azzarello’s script and now I can’t stand to look at it. I bet to really bring it home for the WWINO wankers you’ll have Wondy solve every problem by screaming “I Love Everybody!!!” and nothing real ever gets resolved and nothing ever rings true and morally sound, just like the end of Azzarello’s arc. Just like the end of Man Of Steel.

After reading the reviews, I’ve made my choice. Not going to buy a ticket. Maybe some day when it’s on cable I’ll catch it, but I’m not spending money on a movie that caters to Azzarello and WWINO fans. Same as to this day I won’t watch Antman for catering to alternate universe daughter fans (or fan as there’s only Edgar Wright) at the expense of a founding Avenger literally being put in limbo to be a damsel for alt-daughter to rescue next movie. I probably won’t watch Justice League either for axing Hal Jordan or any Green Lantern as well as using WWINO “Daughter Of Zeus!!!”. Who the hell is Barry going to be besties with, Cyborg so he can pretend to be Wally? Fuck that. As with Marvel catering to Edgar Wright, the DC Movieverse is already off to a bad start, catering to Snyder. Now Jenkins has to clean up his mess. An uphill battle.

For anyone reading this and shaking their heads at what you consider a minor origin change, remember this. Tone. Believe it or not it dictates how her story is told and what their themes are. When she was made of clay and raised by mother who couldn’t conceived and a sisterhood of Amazons, it informed her character. Now her character is defined by who her father is and who her brothers are, and what a liar and conspirator her mother is and how her sisters are two-faced backstabbers or weak willed and jealous or barbaric black widows.

Now that Wonder Woman is daughter of Zeus it suddenly is important to make that be known in her first movie. It’s all that matters and defines her world. Zeus gives her powers. Zeus gives her bad guys. Zeus drives her plots. Suddenly her Amazon training is done through her brother (Ares) whose her grandfather by the way (Hyppolyta’s dad, but Azzarello don’t want you to know that). Her godly gifts weren’t earned they were spermed.

Once it became clear that Wonder Woman’s powers come from daddy Zeus, suddenly that defines her at all times as much as being raised by a bunch of barbaric Amazons that she is somehow born morally superior to. Yes born superior, in spite of being raised by barbarians who hate her, a mother who’s deceitful and for some reason is truly in love with a philandering manipulator because Azzarello just won’t admit that no actually she just wanted to fuck him out of lust becuase he wanted to make clear to critics it wasn’t rape. Just be honest Brian, she was just horny for the most majestic sleaze and didn’t give a fuck about her duties as a Queen of manhating murderers. Dumb hypocrite.

Basically once you change WW’s origin to daughter of Zeus, raised by barbaric Amazons all her stories shift in tone and none of her old classics fit into that world nor will any new classics be made from her old setup unless it’s a digital out of continuity comic, because suddenly all the movies and all the TV shows will want to pretend the WW made of clay, raised by philosophers, artisans, and warriors (not just stone age barbarians), etc. never existed even though there’s tons of old media that contradict it. This isn’t like Batman where you can compromise campy with gritty. He still had parents that were shot dead in the alleyway by a mugger and he still grew up to adopt orphans and fight crime. Flash still had a mother, but now it’s a plot point that his arch-nemesis went back in time and killed her, his adventures as a altruistic crime fighter with two alive parents happened. Not Wonder Woman. The clay’s a lie!!! Her Amazon sisters were always mean and jealous her, but Wondy put blinders on and held an idiot ball, conveniently and willfully ignorant. Never caring or wondering why her Amazons came back pregnant so she can’t find about their murderous deeds and segregation policy. Hyppolyta apparently okaying this and letting it go on yet keeping her own daughter in the dark because she’s apparently the only Amazon who realizes that what she lets her people get away with is wrong when the other Amazons are to far gone to know better. Is it really a wonder the the Amazon sisters killed their sons when Diana brought them back. What did the idiot think would happen? What did Azzarello think would happen when he left this to less competent writers? A better writer would have had Wonder Woman enact brainwashing regimen like the Allies did to Germany. It’s not moral or ideal, but how else are you going to reason with stone age barbarian misandrists who only know that way. Why would the Amazons not murder? Because Wondy as Queen says so? Bullshit. No amount of “I Love Everyone!!!” will break that spell, Wondy. Try again. Try loving submission or put them on a reform, work island. Don’t just lead your Amazonian brothers to the slaughter, dumbass. This is my point. Azzarello left DC Entertainment a crappy Wonder Woman. A Wonder Woman with a legacy of a false victory, reuniting sons with their two-faced mothers who murder their fathers and she lets her own dumbass, selfish father get away with everything. He gets reborn a baby so he never has to face punishment and is put back on the throne. Fuck Zeus! Fuck Black Widow Amazons! Fuck WWINO! Fuck Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice!

Even if Geoff Johns fixed this crap in Rebirth, returning the real Wonder Woman, he still let this get green-lighted on the screen.

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Comics: Two Late Reviews And One Non-Review

Honestly who's reading this blog anyhow? I have five followers on tumblr most. I for a brief second had eight because of my one post about The Flash and Green Lantern, but after they saw all the Led Zeppelin gay I think I scared them off and they unfollowed.

Anyone who notices these things will know I haven't updated for awhile. Part of it is that I'm living in a state of zombified sleeplessness that some how makes me less motivated to throw myself out there in the ether.

Quick Rundown of Comic Book Reviews

Justice League 3001 #9

I admit it took awhile to pick this one up. It's cancellation status has made me less driven to get it right away, but I still want to know how it's going to tie up in a clumsy fashion by the end. So I will continue buying it, but I won't be timely about reviewing it anymore.

I don't have a lot of thoughts about this one. In spite of my ambivalence, I'm actually curious about the Legion Of Death. It reminds me how we'll never see the 3001 version of the New Gods promised issues ago. Ariel and Lois are finally in their right bodies. The question I have though, is if Ariel was housed in Lois's body as stated, shouldn't she have been able to use the body or is there something else I'm missing. Did they drug her to keep her unconscious. I vividly remember Bane carrying her body carelessly and admitting he uses the body like a mannequin to keep him company for tea parties. Unless that was a joke to piss of Lois, but he seemed earnest about it. If that's the case would Ariel have been unconscious.

Legend Of Wonder Woman #2

Finally a Wonder Woman comic in the last four years that I can stand reading. I'm glad to find that Alcippe is indeed Phillipus. As my headcanon is her and Hyppolyta are in love, but torn apart by duty, the exchanges between them has more meaning. I'm impressed by the real resentment Alcippe/Phillipus has for Diana. Now it makes sense story wise to do the writing choice of higher ranking Amazons as immortal.

It's impressive that for the most part they manage to write a story of intrigue centered on an isolated island, so far. There's a faction of Amazons who are in league with Ares and want to overthrow Hyppolyta, one of them is her own sister. I think they're establishing Ares as their grandfather. Thank you.

Also Steve!

Black Widow #1

And I couldn't get a ride into town on Wednesday, but it's on my pull list, so I'll get to it eventually.

How the hell did my pull list get so female heavy. Never in a million years when I was first reading comics did I ever think I'd put down the men and actually have a variety of women-led books that weren't softcore. Different times.