SECOND DECADE, 21ST CENTURY

I rarely address personal matters on this blog but I'll make an exception here: as of Dec 31 2010 I retired on pension, making me a fixed-income guy with a lot more time on his hands for matters both creative and critical.

Additionally, on Dec 7 2010 this blog enjoyed its third anniversary. From the first I didn't expect this sort of "culture vulture" blog to reap much net-attention, and those expectations were largely realized, but in my way I've valued the exchanges I've had, even the negative ones.

I probably won't do much more with my companion blog AMAZONS ASCENDANT unless some bolt hits me from the proverbial blue (though I still might write a Parthian shot to Heidi McDonald there). I am considering that while I continue to make the "older AA" a home for formal theoretical meditations, I may start at least a third blog to deal with my new AUM theory, but as applied to the medium of cinema, with little if any comics-commentary.

I think I'm on to something with the AUM system of phenomenological classification, but I don't want ARCHETYPAL ARCHIVE to become totally devoted to this subject. Naturally I'm aware that the Internet needs another movie-review blog like Charles Reece needs an Essentials collection of SHOGUN WARRIORS (bad inside joke). What I'm envisioning would still focus a bit more on critical matters than do most movie-blogs, and provide more concrete examples as to why I keep harping on the broad applicability of myth-criticism to the popular arts.

I don't plan to write long essays for this film-blog. A possible model would be Dave Sindelar's MOVIE OF THE DAY files, currently hosted by the Classic Horror Film Board. My take on this format would identify a given movie's phenomenalistic content (atypical/uncanny/marvelous) and maybe touch on prominent myth-motifs. I doubt if I'll manage one a day but I may get into enough of a rhythm to make four-five a week.

Additionally, I've another blog-concept, this one comics-related, but I'm investigating the possibility of its being hosted by a site.

Far in the future I may investigate the possibility of doing a personal wiki. I'm leery of the evanescence of such Internet constructs yet I do like those cool hyperlinks. It might be a possible means of expounding more fully on my theories of the "superhero idiom," on which I've been working, on and off, for the past ten years. The few posts I've done on the subject here are the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

In closing, I will note what I've been meaning to note for months: that I now have an essay in a "real book" (as opposed to all the long-gone and long-forgotten JOURNAL articles). Here's a link to the Sequart advertisement. Mine is the one that asks the musical question, " Is the depiction of Rorschach an unfair caricature of the philosophy of Steve Ditko?" I've enjoyed working with Sequart and hope to do so again in future.

And at some point, I plan to start using a scanner. But no promises as to when.

A BANK-- FOR THE MAMMARIES, PART LAST

Having compiled 30 mammorable moments from DC Comics History from my other blog and from other sources, here's twenty more, rounding my count off to 50, as I'm not quite motivated enough to make it to 75.


(31) "The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl," DETECTIVE #359. Ordinarily I'd avoid origin-stories as being "memorable moments" because, with a few exceptions, they're just devices to start the protagonist on the road to significant accomplishments. But I do think the Fox-Infantino Batgirl tale, in addition to being a good yarn that lays out the character's motivations pretty well, is historically significant thanks to the fact that Batgirl's creation was mandated by the 1960s TV show. Not that DC probably wouldn't have evolved a new Batgirl idea on their own someday, but it does mean that the show's TV producers ended up doing the comics some long-term good, whatever slings and arrows the campy show might've brought about in the short term.





(32) I was going to call this entry "Supergirl reveals herself," only to find that there actually WAS a Jerry Siegel story called "The Day Supergirl Revealed Herself," from ACTION #265 (1960), in which the title character got amnesia and showed herself in public, thus imperilling Superman's plans to keep her hidden in his fortress dung-- er, keep her in reserve as a "secret weapon." At any rate, I'm actually referencing a story roughly two years later, in ACTION #285, in which Superman reveals Supergirl's existence to the world at large.





(33) You have to love the title of the story in BRAVE AND BOLD #63 for its stupefying corniness alone: "Revolt of the Super-Chicks!" But historically speaking, it's the first time DC put the spotlight on two unrelated heroines teaming up even for one story, with no superguys to spoil the hen party.





(4) Not wanting to leave out the villains' accomplishments, I open with the female Mist's rape of Jack Knight in STARMAN...

(5) ...And then raise with the villainy of uncontrolled birth seen in GREEN LANTERN #81, in which the sterile Mother Juna (note the reference to Roman "Juno," and maybe to the Hindu term "yoni" as well) nearly destroys her planet Malthus by having so many children, Green Lantern and Green Arrow don't know what to do.





(6) Poison Ivy's another DC character whose debut rates mention. Her main object in BATMAN #181 is to dethrone three other Gotham crime-queens (who never appeared before and have only recently been revived). Just like a woman; she just has to be the center of attention! But she did launch a growing trend for female villains in the Bat-books, which is rather impressive given that aside from Catwoman BATMAN hardly had any female villains in the previous twentysomething years.





(7) Catwoman's the perfect example of a character who isn't really much to write home about in her first few stories, but who grows as writers build upon her. Not that all of the additions were stellar: Bill Finger's origin for his creation made her an amnesiac whose id got out of control. But in the early 1950s, just before the Comics Code arguably exiled Catwoman from the printed page for roughly ten years, she was briefly returned to full villainous status. In DETECTIVE COMICS #203 she gets pissed because she thinks Batman's been boasting about all the times he defeated her, and summarily goes back to crime-- and of course, the thrill of dueling with the Big Bat.

(8) The adult version of Lana Lang worms her way into the world of Superman and his unofficial "girlfriend" Lois Lane in LOIS LANE #7 (1959).





(9) Of course Lana was introduced much earlier as a Delilah-figure in SUPERBOY, who was perhaps worse than Lois in terms of trying to uncover Clark Kent's secret ID. Her most charmingly devious outing appeared in a tale wherein she deliberately exposed Superboy to red kryptonite to see if he'd mutate in some way and thus reveal his ID. That time it made him unable to control his powers, so he went around wrecking everything he touched. Hmm, a teenage girl making a teenage boy do stupid stuff. Who'd believe that?

(10) Sticking with the supermythology, I come to the first appearance of Lesla-Lar in ACTION COMICS #279 (1961). This tale was the beginning of a four-part plotline in the Supergirl backup feature which was a good deal more inventive than most of the stories in the Superman lead. This Jerry Siegel creation was a good if not exceptional villainess, but her tale's main historical significance is that it's one of the first multi-issue superhero tales to appear since the 1940s-- a comics-format that Marvel would later realize to greater lasting effect.





(11) In HAWKMAN #13 (first series), Hawkgirl, one of DC's more dynamic Silver Age heroines, gets to unequivccally rescue her male partner. Queen Alvit, an elvishly-named immortal who looks like a Nordic Valkyrie, tries to force Hawkman into becoming her new husband, and Hawkgirl bitch-slaps her pretty good.






(12) In AQUAMAN #18 the title hero weds his powerful girlfriend Mera, about a year before Marvel's better-known wedding of Reed and Sue Richards. One interesting historical consequence is that this bond makes Mera more a part of Aquaman's team rather than less. Precisely the reverse happened in FANTASTIC FOUR, though admittedly Mera's pregnancy wasn't milked for as much sentiment as Sue's.





(13) In JLA #60 perennial JLA foe Queen Bee masters the Leaguers by turning them into pretty little butterflies, and they're only saved from servitude by a fluke.

(14) In QUESTION #1 Lady Shiva beats the crap out of Vic Sage and almost kills him, but then decides to rescue him and give him a new life.

(15) In ADVENTURE COMICS #304, founding member Saturn Girl uses her telepathic powers to force everyone in the Legion to vote for her, so that she becomes the second member to be the Legion's leader, and the first female character to lead a team of mixed-gender superheroes. (Maybe even any mixed-gender team prior to this 1963 tale!) This mass brainwashing sounds like the act of a supervillain, but it turns out she did it to save Earth from a dire threat. And though Lightning Lad one-ups her by sacrificing his own life against said threat, the Legion votes to keep her as their leader anyway.

(16) In WONDER WOMAN vol. 1, #28, the horribly named minor character "Eviless" wins fame by forming a cadre of Wonder Woman villainesses. This is probably the first all-female group of villains in comics, or at least the first assembled from characters who had made previous appearances.





(17) In WONDER WOMAN #31, George Perez and Chris Marrinan give readers a version of the Cheetah that can and does go the distance with the super-strong Amazon.

(18) Continuing in the catfight theme, in NEW TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #1 Starfire's grudge match with her sister Blackfire merits inclusion on sheer viciousness alone.



(19) I can't say DC ever broke that much gynocentric ground in their various sword-and-sorcery books, but I did think the villainess Dark Majistra was one bad mother-- particularly since she was the hero's mother, and tried to kill him rather imaginatively in the four-part "Magic Odyssey" serial.






(20) And last on my list, I give you LADY COP #1. Reason being that, although the art avoids showing things very graphically, it seems to depict the first time a DC female ever kneed a DC guy in the groin.

A BANK-- FOR THE MAMMARIES, PART 4

The next set in my own list of formidable female figurations comes from my companion blog, AMAZONS ASCENDANT. Of the "top 50 female/male fights in comics" that I listed, only fourteen hailed from DC Comics. Of those fourteen, I count out six as not being quite significant enough to be included in a list judged on historical significance.

Here be the eight who made the cut:

Cassandra Cain's battle with Batman in BATGIRL #50

Supergirl's attempt to find 50 ways to make your lover leave you alone, from SUPERGIRL #15 (current series)

Wonder Woman's fight with Superman in JLA #143

Golden Glider's dastardly attempt to kill Flash's wife and parents in FLASH #257

Black Canary's kung-fu battle with Rabbit in BIRDS OF PREY

Star Sapphire's third battle with Green Lantern, in which she forces him to pledge his troth to her (that's the "if he loses he wins" part)

The (brainwashed) Girl Legionnaires kicking the collective ass of the Boy Legionnaires

In her first appearance, Knockout scoring a TKO on the New Superboy

As the hooker said one Saturday evening, "more to come."

A BANK-- FOR THE MAMMARIES, PART 3

One thing I liked about the list of nominees compiled on DC Women Kicking Ass is that it includes memorable acts by villain(esse)s, which the CBR list neglected.

Here's the entries that made it to my personal list of gynocentric glories, discounting the 3 or 4 that had appeared on the CBR list.

(7) Cheshire nukes a country in Deathstroke #19

(8) Silver St. Cloud figures out on her own that Batman is Bruce Wayne in Detective 479

(9) Oracle hiring Black Canary as an operative in the first Birds of Prey one-shot.
Incidentally, one might deem this the "formative moment" when Oracle went from being a supporting figure to a major player in the DCU.

(10) Amanda Waller goes Head to head with Granny Goodness in Suicide Squad #34

(11) Carrie Kelly becomes Robin in The Dark Knight Returns #2

(12) Cassandra Cain beats Shiva, leaves her hanging in Batgirl #73.

(13) Donna Troy finds her adoptive parents in The New Teen Titan’s “Who is Donna Troy?”

(14) Huntress gets her revenge on the man who had her family killed in “Cry for Bood” #6 (a particular favorite of mine, BTW).

(15) Black Canary calls Batman out about his treatment of the Huntress in Birds of Prey #79

(16) Katma Tui chooses to save a coworker before she saves her fiance, convincing her to become a Green Lantern rather thana wife and mother. Green Lantern #30

(17) Raven puts the Teen Titans together to fight Trigon in NTT #1

(18) Zatanna search to find her father finally ends in Justice League #51

(19) Black Canary crosses over from Earth 1 to Earth 2 and joins the Justice League (JLA #74)

(20) Harley Quinn makes her debut into comics with Harley Quinn/Mad Love

(21) Stephanie Brown becomes the first in continuity girl Robin in Robin #126

(22) Wonder Woman gives up her powers and becomes Diana Prince in Wonder Woman v.1 #178


I must admit that this sampling is fairly "Bat-centric," and that of the six I chose from the CBR list only one of them deals with the Super-mythology. Of course, as others besides me have commented, the mythology of Superman just never has been as inventive as that of the Bat-mythos. However, my own choices will feature not only more of the Superman stuff but also more works from the Silver Age, which period certainly has greater personal resonance to me than many of the latter-day developments.

A BANK FOR THE MAMMARIES, PART 2

Moving right along...

Starting with CBR's list of "75 most memorable moments in DC history," I find that it's a decent enough selection, but only six of these "points in time" focus on signficant aspects of the company's portrayal of female characters. They are:

(1) The rape of Sue Dibny. The actual story is pretty worthless, but it does provide a strong marker of the superhero genre's movement away from "juvenile pulp" and toward "adult pulp."

(2) Princess Diana's contest in ALL-STAR #8, in which she defeats her Amazon sisters for the privilege of becoming Wonder Woman.

(3) Terra's revelation as a villain in NEW TEEN TITANS #34. This issue also flirts with the "adult pulp" mode a bit in its implication of a relationship between the teen turncoat and the adult Deathstroke.

(4) Wonder Woman kills Maxwell Lord. Only a fair story, but Lord had become a strong supporting character in the DCU and the act sparked quite a bit of interesting debate in the fan community about "Heroes Who Kill." Unlike your bloody comic book elitists, I don't necessarily find such discussions ridiculous, even if they do usually generate more heat than light.

(5) Supergirl's heroic death fighting the Anti-Monitor in CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS. Of course one might consider this more a "travesty" than a "triumph" since this character's erasure paves the way for the John Byrne version of Supergirl.

(6) The Joker shoots Batgirl. Many fans have come to find "The Killing Joke" rather overrated, and Alan Moore's expressed similar sentiments himself. And if the character had simply been magically healed up as with so many comic-book injuries, I'd probably not bother to list this incident. But it does lead into the transformation of the somewhat timeworn character of the Barbara Gordon Batgirl into Oracle, and even though it's not the sort of transformation Alan Moore would have wrought, he deserves credit for being a linchpin in that development.

Next: Stuff from DCwomenkickingass.

A BANK-- FOR THE MAMMARIES, PART 1

Also known as "a mammary bank." Obligatory rim shot.

Given the popularity of sites with names like SHE HAS NO HEAD!, it would be amusing to subvert that dominant and devote an essay here to reminiscing about nothing but tits in all their varying degrees of reality/fantasy. But in truth this essay takes its inspiration from a more standard form of list-making: "Memorable Moments in the History of [Fill in the Blank]."

A post on COMIC BOOK RESOURCES informed me of a CBR article entitled
"The 75 Most Memorable Moments in DC Comics History."

This CBR list in turn inspired a response from the blog DC Women Kicking Ass. In essence, the blogger asserted that female accomplishments in the DC Universe had been minimized or elided in the CBR list. There may be some justice to this claim, given that "the rape of Sue Dibny" gets a separate listing apart from "the death of Sue Dibny." I don't have anything against listing the "bad things" that happen to DC's fictional characters as being "memorable," especially since the list did include such male-disempowering events as "Roy Harper, Dope Fiend." Still, it does seem a misjudgment to give "Sue's rape" and "Sue's death" separate entries since both occured within the context of a single limited series, IDENTITY CRISIS.

A list of more female-empowering choices appeared on that blog here, and promptly got me thinking about what kinds of choices I'd make for mammor-- er, memorable moments for female characters in the DC Universe. I decided that my list wouldn't focus purely on the empowerment angle, as travesty is no less memorable and/or significant than triumph.

In Part 2 of this essay series I'll start by listing stuff that I agreed with from the two lists before I start making new deposits to the "bank."

MY NEW FAVORITE ADULT-X SPECIAL

"X" as in "Xmas," of course. If it had been the other kind of "adult," there would have been at least three X's.

I say "adult" because most such Xmas specials, whether done as stand-alone programs or episodes of a series (the latter being the case with this very special Claymation episode of COMMUNITY), aim at being "all-ages."

But "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" is, in essence, adult comedy about the pangs of the holiday season, about growing up and having one's family disappoint one, about the possibility of finding surcease from sorrow in a new "community" of friends.

For that reason, "Uncontrollable" may not play all that well with kids, though I plan to subject my nephew and nieces to it on Xmas Eve in order to find out.

The plot is an adult send-up of familiar holiday tropes. Quirky community-college student Abed has something of a mental breakdown due to a psychological problem not revealed until the episode's end. Abed sees everyone he encounters, especially his study-group "family," as Claymation figures based in Xmas themes. One might call this Abed's "licorice-night of the soul," with lots of wry jokes and absurdist fantasy. But for my money no teleseries has ever done a better job with dealing with Christmas in terms of how human beings create meaning for themselves through their ritual practices.

The episode's on Hulu. Merry Winter Solstice!