Superhero Media: Titans - Season 2

It's a shame that the reviews of the first season of Titans were so damning, as it seems no one is really willing to give the programme a shot now. The second season is much better, though far from perfect and shows signs of being something genuinely interesting, until it's hamstrung by studio oversight and budget constraints. The entire first episode of the second season of Titans is a proper conclusion for the first season and a retcon of the setting and characters. Honestly, it's really distracting to watch, especially because the costume budget is clearly smaller and Teagan Croft growing up a little between seasons and looking a lot different between cuts now. If you can get through the first episode, however, there's a lot of great stuff in Titans, including the first serious attempt at Krypto the Superdog in any DC production outside of the comics in probably forever. Yes, the gritty, in-your-face, "Fuck Batman" Titans features Krypto the Superdog as a character. Not even as a joke or a reference, but an honest-to-Rao Krypto with powers and everything. Best DC production this century, 10 out of 10, would watch again. 

As well as introducing Krypto, Superboy (Conner) and Ravager to the Titans, season two brings in Titans Tower, Bruce Wayne, Cadmus, Deathstroke and Mercy Graves pretty quickly, willingly embracing the broader universe in the exact ways season one seemed to want to avoid. Not that Titans doesn't still have a lot of problems, but this second season isn't afraid to take chances and have fun, which is exactly what a superhero programme should be doing. For example, Iain Glen is almost a baffling cast for Bruce Wayne, right up until he's following Dick Greyson around as a hallucination manifested from guilt (like the Purple Man scenes in the second season of Jessica Jones), where Glen can cut loose with the role and is one of the best Batmen in history without ever putting on the costume. Without ever really being there, Batman is able to reunite the Titans, guide Dick to the Nightwing identity and dance the Batusi; yes, Batman dances the Batusi and I'm pretty sure that scene also has a cameo from Tara Strong, but I can't confirm it, check it out! 

Someone on the writing staff, however, still seems intent on keeping Titans dark and gritty, so there's plenty of pointless arguments, flashbacks to the characters doing something "bad" and lots of moping. There's so much happening, in fact, that the second season is a little too plot heavy and several characters get sidelined in favour of Dick's unnecessary redemption arc or setting up Blackfire as the villain for the next season. Gar and Conner really suffer, as their blossoming friendship is one of the better series of scenes and the Deathstroke stuff is resolved so quickly that it feels almost like a last-minute re-write. The departures of Jason Todd, Raven and Donna Troy are tacked onto the finale, and really feel like the actors jumping ship while they still have intact careers, and, whilst I can't blame them, I'm disappointed that Titans will never really get a shot to be the great ensemble series it shows signs of wanting to be. It seems destined that this will be another also-ran, despite it's qualities, like Iron Fist or Agent Carter.

Fantasy Football - Part II

Again with this? Ok. At least they're fun to write. Probably the most fun part is highlighting interesting characters and stories, which is also probably the reason why all of these characters are from Marvel Comics, as that tends to be what I read more widely. As I spread out my reading into more Indy comics and even DC obscura, expect these articles to get a bit more variety as well. 


Caiera Oldstrong

First appearing in the "Planet Hulk" storyline, Caiera is a rare warrior woman, the last of her line and, briefly, lover of both the Hulk and Bruce Banner, making her pretty unique. Dying at the close of the story, Caiera's power and compassion have lead to more than a few "What If" stories and brief returns. Although she proves herself to be a strong leader alongside Hulk, Caiera is perfectly happy to follow a competent and beloved leader, and her ability to change, grow and usurp tyranny are also pretty useful. A strong warrior with no desire to harm the innocent is always a great addition to any team. 


Doctor Doom (From Doom 2099) 

In the epic, and epicly underrated, Doom 2099, Victor Von Doom wakes up in the far future to find his land, people and power missing; over nearly 100 issues, Doom regains what he has lost, forms a team of superheroes and liberates humanity from alien and corporate oppression. In the year 3000, Victor Von Doom institutes a post-needs technological utopia and is savior of the world, alongside Miguel O'Harrah. As Doom is one of my favourite comic characters, you bet he's on this list, but picking which version was the real challenge. Infamous Iron Man, King Doom and Ultimate Doom were all strong contenders, but only Doom 2099 has literally saved the world, made it a better place and united disparate teams of heroes to do so; perfect. I'm off to read Doom 2099 again.


Hawk-Owl 

I've mentioned why I like Hawk-Owl before, so I won't drag this one out, but every team needs a ninja, and Hawk-Owl just seems to have the best Competence to Damage ratio. Think about similar characters like Batman, Daredevil and Nighthawk, all of them have some tragic backstory that cripples their efficacy at a crucial moment, so why bother with someone that unstable? Hawk-Owl chose to be the hero he is for altruistic reasons, not selfish ones, and whilst he doesn't want to join a team, given he hasn't had a comic appearance in over a decade, I think I could twist his arm into working alongside my other choices.


She-Hulk (From the Dan Slott run) 

Superhero, model, Avenger, lawyer, is there anything Shulkie can't do? Aside from getting a film of her own, I mean. The She-Hulk of the now-famous Dan Slott run is seeking the balance between celebrity and meaning, with her superhero duties often proving to be less of a challenge than her legal work, as punching something requires a great deal less critical thought. She-Hulk is all about confidence as opposed to Hulk's rage, but she is her best hero self when that confidence has been shaken and she has to recover it internally, rather than relying on her existing celebrity. Even on a good day, Shulkie lacks the strength of her more famous cousin, but she almost never gets out of control and has the brains to match her brawn; an excellent addition to any superhero team.


Venom Punisher (from What If?) 

I'm not a fan of the tendency to let anyone play with the Venom symbiote, but even I had to admit it works pretty well with Frank Castle. Thing is, becoming Venom doesn't make Frank a worse murderer or more evil, he just has access to more efficient means of murder now, and his iron will keeps the alien in check better than most. Now, having Frank Castle running around murdering criminals at will is a moral grey area at the best of times, so adding the power of Venom won't lead to a happy ending for many, but sometimes, you need to point a killer at the problem and watch it disappear in pink mist. If that's the case, I'd much rather the infallible precision of Frank Castle than the pure rage of someone like Logan.

Well, that's the last of these for a while at least, I'm out of ideas right now, and will have to get some together before doing more of these. Most of my ideas for this kind of thing will be working their way into my "Ultimate Alliance Fiction" pieces anyway.

Superhero Media: Gamera 3 - Revenge of Iris

I wasn't actually aware that Gamera 3 - Revenge of Iris existed until my DVD collection arrived in the mail years back, but I was immediately excited that the two Kaiju films I loved best had a final part of the trilogy. The first time I watched Gamera 3, I was really disappointed, finding it a strange turn of direction for the series and a bit of a let-down after Gamera 2. Now that I've been back again, I have to reevaluate my take on Revenge of Iris; it's still a weird turn, but there is a lot here worth taking a look at. The film opens during Gamera Guardian of the Universe, with a young girl seeing her family killed during the battle between Gamera and Gyos when her mother tries to rescue the cat, named Iris. Years later, the now-teenaged girl, Mayumi is ostracised by her classmates for her hatred of Gamera and is peer-pressured into violating a sacred shrine, where she awakens a new monster, naming it Iris. Also, it's hinted that Mayumi and Iris have sex? I wouldn't bring this up, but it's a weird scene that never comes up again, and it really sticks in the brain. 

Meanwhile, Gyos have appeared again, and Gamera is battling them across the planet, causing no small amount of collateral damage in the process; this is drawing the attention of authorities who are starting to consider Gamera the real enemy. Combating this trend, Asagi and Watarase are doing more research on the history and creation of Gamera, coming to understand mana and it's function in balancing the environment and the planet. Asagi finds Saito, now a homeless drunk, living in a shanty town and enlists his help to track down Iris and save Gamera from the military industrial complex. Watarase brings in Midori to help Mayumi through her monster problem and at last the team comes together. Gamera 3 is more focused on the human characters than the previous outings, especially the women of the series, Asagi, Midori and Mayumi, almost making up a kind of "maiden, mother, crone" tryptic, except with more of a "knowledge, nurture, innocence" focus. That's right people, Gamera 3 is the one about contemporary Japanese feminism and how women need to step up and save the world because the men just keep failing. 

Does this mean Iris somehow represents feminine rage? I'm not so sure, as the translation on my copy isn't brilliant and I miss around 1/3rd of the lines in the film, but there is a definite focus on nurture as a healing force more so than revenge. Saito starts his redemption and healing journey because of the kindness of an old friend, Iris loses its hold over Mayumi not because of the disposable love interest coming to save her, but because Asagi and Midori are there for her. Towards the end of the film, there's a great moment between Asagi and Watarase where they silently acknowledge their mutual respect and realise that their relationship has reached its peak without becoming romantic; it's a great moment of maturity and melancholy in film-making you don't see often. As good as I now find Gamera 3, I'd still say that it comes in a little disappointing after Gamera 2, just because it's such a departure in tone and is going for something very different. All in, the 1990s Gamera Trilogy is probably one of the best moments in the history of Kaiju film-making and a great place to start for anyone wanting to jump in to the genre.

Kaiju II - The Return!

From the depths of outer space, come massive monsters known as Kaiju! Attracted by mankind's use of nuclear weapons, these monsters are nearly unstoppable through conventional military means, leaving a trail of havoc in their wake.

Peguila, the winged and walrus-toothed Arctic monster, and a Martian Tripod armed with deadly tendrils. 

 

Vintage Ultraman Model kit picked up at a swap meet. 

 

Another swap meet kit, this time from an Anime I'm not familiar with.

There are more monsters on the way, along with a few extra bits and pieces to spice up my eventual Kaiju games.

Superhero Media: Avengers Forever

Is Avengers Forever an epic crossover celebrating the history of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, or a tedious exercise in intellectual property management and covering plot-holes? You decide, True Believers! Our adventure begins on the Blue Area of the Moon, where the recently-captured Kree Supreme Intelligence is being held prisoner; the Avengers arrive, with a sick and dying Rick Jones in tow. Have we talked about Rick Jones? Sidekick extraordinaire, founder of the Avengers, HAM Radio enthusiast and SKA artist? Rick is a cornerstone character of the Marvel Universe, who, for some reason, has never appeared in any of the films, despite being the "audience point-of-view" character for much of Silver Age of the Marvel Comics Universe. In Avengers Forever, Rick is dying from a malady that has left the best doctors and mystics of Earth baffled, forcing the Avengers to turn to the Supreme Intelligence for help; little do Earth's Mightiest Heroes know, however, that this is merely the start of "The Destiny War", one of the greatest challenges The Avengers will ever face. 

To face this epic battle against time and space are brought together Avengers from the past, present and future, the current Wasp and Giant Man, Captain America on the way to becoming Nomad, the first instance of Hank Pym's Yellowjacket personality, Clint Barton having just given up being Goliath, a Songbird turned hero and Genis Vell having taken up his father's Captain Marvel mantle. Joining these heroes are Rick, Kang the Conqueror, Libra from ZODIAC and the Supreme Intelligence; and they must face Immortus and the Time Keepers, who want to erase Humanity from the time-stream before they conquer the universe. The story of Avengers Forever is convoluted and honestly not really the point of the whole exercise when you boil it down. What Avengers Forever is doing is managing plot-holes and continuity, which can turn off many readers, but I enjoy the kitschness of the process, especially the issue that focuses on Kang and resolves parts of his personal history that never really made sense. The whole exercise is very wordy and light on action for long stretches, not really taking advantage of the visual medium as well as it could. 

Add the overly white and bland cast of Avengers (Clint and Yellowjacket have the only real interesting dialogue), and Avengers Forever is not really a great read for anyone not already deep into Avengers lore and history. That said, I love the bonkers premise, huge continuity dumps and getting to see more Kang, which makes up for the flaws in my mind. I still wish the featured Avengers were more diverse and interesting, like why not Monica Rambeau, Arabian Knight or Jim Hammond? But overall Avengers Forever is a fun read every time I go back to it. I don't think it's really meant to be taken all that seriously, especially given how much stick the story cops in the Dan Slott run of She-Hulk, but it's a fun ride most of the time. Overly complex explanations of what's happening can get a bit tedious, but I tend to skim them now and they don't bother me too much. Avengers Forever is a great framing device to any supers games you want to run, giving you the excuse to have a big variety of characters running through time and space, fighting classic Avengers villains and the whole universe to fight for at the end. Well worth your time to read.

From the Archives - 4

A decade ago, I ran a blog where I reviewed media pretty exclusively. You can't find it now, but one of the articles I thought it'd be fun to revisit would be "Top 10 Superhero Movie Fights", especially considering that I wrote it in 2011 before even The Avengers was released. Down the track I'll do an updated one, but for now enjoy my old, clunky writing style: 

So, I wanted to do something a bit different and flex my film studies/comic book nerd credentials a bit and steal Empire's shtick. I should point out that the list below is by no means comprehensive; believe it or not, I've never actually seen Superman II or the David Hasselhoff Nick Fury film. However, I do feel that the list is fair, the spread of films is broad and so is the scope of the given scenes. 
But what makes a good Superhero fight? To understand this, we need to look at classic fight scenes from comics; Batman versus Superman in The Dark Knight Returns, Quicksilver in any part of The Ultimates 2 or Spiderman versus the Green Goblin in "The Day Gwen Stacy Died". What all these have in common is the real "wow" factor that comes with superhuman foes belting the crap out of each other. In a martial arts film, a "good" fight scene is on that is technically competent from the standpoint of someone examining the fight with a trained expert's eye. The Superhero genre bucks this convention, deliberately giving the audience a fight impossible to replicate in the real world. Though it may sound like an action film in this respect, the gaudy nature of the superhero creates a different experience, as will be demonstrated below. 
I know as I write this that there will be at least one complaint about this list; the lack of a DC Animated Universe film. It's not that the films are bad (Justice League: New Frontier is probably the only good Justice League film that will ever be made), it's just that they lack a truly "wow" worthy fight scene. Batman versus the Red Hood is a fun fight, but there's nothing to it that cannot be found in Police Story or The Game of Death. 
Also, as the next two years will see the release of Thor, Green Lantern, The First Avenger: Captain America, The Avengers, X-Men: First Class and the next Nolan Batman sequel as well as reboots of the Spiderman and Fantastic Four franchises. If I'm still doing this in 2013, I'll update this list, but for now, it'll have to do. So onwards, true believers! 

Top 10 Superhero Movie Fights 

10. Gordon vs The Joker (The Dark Knight - 2008)

The only inclusion of Nolan's take on Batman, it may surprise you to see this so low on the countdown, but there's a simple reason behind this; The Dark Knight, although an excellent film, is not a superhero film. What? Yes. The Dark Knight is a crime film and this is evidenced by the fact that the best fight scene in the film isn't about how awesome Batman is, but how awesome Jim Gordon is. Also more of a car chase, when Dent is offered as bait to capture the Joker, the fight is carried by Gordon all the way. Think of this as the Batman equivalent to Yoda breaking out the lightsabre in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, you always suspected he was a badass, this is just conformation. From "I hope you got some moves pal" to "We got ya", Jim Gordon romps this in and shows us what he's really capable of.


9. Spiderman vs Doctor Octopus (Spiderman 2 - 2004) 

 
Specifically the one on the train, in-between when the pair lands on the tracks and when Doc Ock smugly utters "You have a train to catch". Perhaps a little CG heavy, but having two of Marvel's most iconic characters duke it out on the side of a train makes for one hell of a fight. Bouncing around, over, under and through the train during the battle, this scene perfectly captures the feel of a Spiderman comic. Pity this franchise blew so hard, there's a few more good fights in the trilogy, this is just the best one. 


8. Matt vs Elektra (Daredevil - 2003) 

 
Not the tragic lovers' battle in the third act of the film, but the (literally) violent flirtation between the characters in the playground at the beginning of their romantic arc. If you're wondering how on Earth I could rate anything from this film higher than anything from The Dark Knight, stop reading now, there's worse to come. Hey, bad films can have good moments in them and here's proof. This fight is fun, well choreographed and adds to the plot, which puts it a cut above most on-screen fights already. If you're still not convinced, Youtube this and watch it without the context of Daredevil to drag it down. Note to Christopher Nolan: this is what the Batman/Catwoman arc should resemble. 


7. The Punisher vs The Russian (The Punisher - 2004) 

 
Never mind that The Punisher was unfairly ignored by the public, or badly edited to remove most of the plot, or made on a budget that would have the BBC drama department making fun of them (obscure joke, I know), the film is the best translation of Marvel's Skull-shirted vigilante to the big screen that has ever been made. The proof of the pudding is in the scene where Frank and a mysterious assailant, known only as "The Russian" go toe-to-toe while "La Donne Mobile" plays loudly in the background. This scene is darkly hilarious, combining the brutality of a barroom brawl with the comic timing of vaudeville. Thomas Jane's acting really shines here as well, the looks on his face as he scrambles away from grenades, has his guns destroyed and gets his head slammed in a fridge door are both funny and nauseating. This fight also features the only stunt Jane was not initially allowed to do, getting thrown through a plaster wall, and when The Russian picks him up off the hallway floor, there is a hasty cut as the crew patch up Jane's actually bloody nose. Excelsior! 


6. Blade vs Nomak (Blade II - 2002) 

 
What? Another kinda-crummy hero romp? Yeah. Ok, so the Blade series is lackluster at best, but this brawl is fantastic. Blade is clearly a trained fighter and his choreography matches this, whilst Nomak is a brawler relying on his superior strength and agility to win the day. If there's one thing Del Toro can direct, it's two big guys wailing on each other in a visually pleasing way. Highlights of this fight include the world's biggest "People's Elbow", a bone crunching arm-regeneration and Blade keeping his sunglasses on in a display that would make David Caruso jealous. As with Daredevil, watch this again without the rest of the film to colour it. Actually, that comment is unfair to Kris Kristofferson, who makes the best of these terrible films with some great one-liners. 


5. Nightcrawler vs The Secret Service (X2 - 2003) 

 
The dramatic opening of X2 sees Kurt Wagner using his teleport ability to circumvent Whitehouse security and threaten the life of the American President. Whilst this scene is cool, and arguably one of the best in the X-Men Film Franchise, it's not getting any higher than this because the fight is too one-sided. Nightcrawler (rightly) makes mincemeat (figuratively) out of the Secret Service, whilst this is great to watch, it's really more of an effects sequence in the end. 


4. Dash vs Syndrome Goons (The Incredibles - 2004) 

 
Brad Bird and Pixar's Superhero pastiche/tribute masterpiece is, in my opinion, the best Superhero film produced to date. To explain this would take up as much space as the whole of this review, so I'll just enter this scene into evidence. In escaping Syndrome's goons, young Dash truly gets to experiment with his powers for the first time, running on water and out-maneuvering flying blade thingys with a child's delight in a wonderfully presented scene. I'm going to go watch this again. 


3. BPRD vs The Golden Army (Hellboy 2: The Golden Army - 2008) 

It's a shame that there haven't been many good Hero Team films, but this (almost) climatic battle between Hellboy and his BPRD team against an army of "industrable" clockwork robots demonstrates how a team of heroes can have a fight where they all get to do something and don't break out of character (I'm looking at you Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer). The Hellboy films are underrated gems and this fight demonstrates what I mentioned above, that being Del Toro's keen eye for an action sequence. "Industrable my ass." 


2. Hulk vs Blonsky (The Incredible Hulk - 2008) 

 
Much maligned, but rarely actually watched, the Hulk reboot featuring Edward Norton does a pretty good job of telling a Hulk story on the big screen. The drawcard fight in this film is the Hulk/Abomination 32 minute brawl at the end of the film, but the real gem is much earlier. Hopped up on Super Soldier Serum and Gamma radiation, Emil Blosky (still in Tim Roth form) goes toe to toe with the Hulk and holds his ground for a few minutes. This fight is fluid, dynamic and a lot of fun, exactly what Superhero movie fights should be. 


1. Iron Man and War Machine vs Hammerroids (Iron Man 2 - 2010) 

 
Aww yeah! If two guys in high-tech battle armour blasting away at a horde of robots whist cracking one-liners isn't your idea of fun, then what are you doing watching superhero films? Tony and Rhody cut loose on out of control robots with enough explosions to make Micheal Bay need to change pants. Maybe it lacks the visual poetry of Bruce Lee versus Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in The Game of Death, this scene culminates the expectations of film-goers everywhere who want to see Iron Man kick butt in a visually interesting way. Citizen Kane this is not, but it's damn good for what it is. 

Superhero Media: Gamera 2 - Attack of the Legion

Finally! The entire reason I started this look back at Gamera films was to talk about Gamera 2 - Attack of the Legion, my favouite Kaiju film of all time. Following on from the previous film, Colonel Watarase and Asagi Kunsinagi are Japan's leading experts in Kaiju and how to fight them, whilst Obitsu, suffering trauma after his brush with Gyos, is working as a security guard for the Kirin Beer factory. As a major sponsor of the film, Kirin features heavily and you can make a fun drinking game out of having Kirin every time Kirin is on the screen, if that's your sort of thing. Obitsu's break is short-lived as the smaller alien Legions turn up in the factory and start killing people and eating glass bottles. Soon, the bear-sized aliens are making a nest in Tokoyo subway tunnels and the SSDF is called in, under Watarase's guidance, to deal with the threat. When it is discovered that the "small" Legion are only part of the issue, and a giant flower-like structure is about to ignite the Earth's atmosphere, Gamera arrives to save the day. 

The victory is short-lived, however, as the small Legion eat Gamera alive, and a larger creature escapes to wreak more havoc. There is tension and Watarase and Asagi are being ignored in favour of a more militaristic approach and there is no sign of Midori, the "Girl who can talk to Gamera". Time is running down and humanity's days may be numbered. Gamera 2 - Attack of the Legion is a damned good film. Sure, it's not high art by any measure, but at it's core, Gamera 2 is a solid action film with Kaiju in it, as well as perhaps one of the best Kaiju films ever put together. The model work and Kaiju costumes are brilliant, especially Legion, which has so much articulation it must have taken a team of puppeteers to operate. After seeing Gamera take on several Gyos in the first film, having him be the smaller of the two monsters fighting is pretty great to watch, especially in the final fight where the military start backing him up against the smaller Legion. There are some odd elements to Gamera 2, like Gamera absorbing Mana to heal himself and launch this final attack against Legion, which are actually explained in the next film, but the pacing and character work make up for the confusion. 

Despite not being the best rounded characters in film, Watarase, Midori and Asagi give a great through-line from Gamera Guardian of the Universe and pay off even better in the next film, with genuine growth and development that most Kaiju series don't bother with. It's pretty easy to see why this series of films is the one time in history that the Gamera franchise was more successful, both in terms of box office and critical reception, than Godzilla, who was undergoing a pretty bad slump through the 1990s. As I've said more than once, there is a real potential to Gamera that could be capitalised on by a studio willing to take on the risk and put in the effort of making something as good as Gamera 2. A lot of the charm of Kaiju can be lost in translation, which is part of the reason I tend to think "Western" productions need to focus more on the good/evill aspects of some of the characters, especially when the "good" Kaiju teams-up with the humans in the third act, and Gamera is pretty much ready to go there. The film closes with Asagi mentioning that Gamera is there to protect the Earth and that humans need to avoid becoming his enemy; in context, it's used as an environmental message, but I love that it stakes humanity as not entirely innocent either. A great watch I come back to again and again. Love it. 

EDF X

When the Alien Kaiju started to attack the Earth, it was soon discovered that monsters native to our world existed, and they defended their territory fiercely. Over time, humans and the Terran Kaiju developed an understanding where they could fight together, even if they couldn't communicate. One of the staunchest defenders of the Earth is Kong, King of the Apes. Although actually planning an operation around him is near impossible, human armies the world over know he will focus his rage on the Invaders exclusively unless antagonised. 

ZIS Truck (GHQ) and Kong (Heroclix) 

The comparison shot shows just how big Kong is. 

Superhero Media: The Spectacular Sisterhood of Superwomen

I picked up this book by chance when browsing a sale table at a comic store near work and grabbed it to give to my girlfriend, who is getting pretty deeply into superheroes as our relationship continues. Written by comics author and historian Hope Nicholson, The Spectacular Sisterhood of Superwomen is a rough history of female characters in comics from the 1930s through to the 2010s, divided by decades, with explanations and commentaries. Naturally, the book can't be exhaustive, and even features a few notable exemptions, like Phantomah, Raven and Spider-Woman. In fact, despite the title, The Spectacular Sisterhood of Superwomen features many characters from non-superhero comics, such as Little Lulu and several protagonists from the once-popular genre of Nurse comics. Not that I'm complaining mind, just that the title would indicate a focus on superheroic women, but the actual contents of the book are just as fascinating. The Spectacular Sisterhood of Superwomen not only discusses many of the amazing female characters that have graced the medium of comics, but also the female creators and fans of the medium and how they've shaped the history and culture of the industry. 

For all that Nicholson examines the positives and negatives of the history of women, comics, and women in comics with little holding back of the ugly realities of misogyny, marginalisation and objectification of the female form, The Spectacular Sisterhood of Superwomen maintains something of a positive outlook. Things have been both worse and, in some ways better, over the years that comics have been a medium, but the overall trend is a positive one, even with the rise of the, detestable, "Man-o-sphere" through internet broadcasting and social media. In fact, the rise of the internet has allowed more female creators to break into the field through online publishing, like Danielle Corsetto from Girls With Slingshots, and at the same time has given fans better access to older comics with works like Alison Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For being put up online for free. On that note, Elfquest is evidently online for free, including comics from last year back to the 1970s when it started. I'd love to give it a go, but I don't think I'm up for reading all of that given my vanishing reading time. 

Though I've read and watched a number of historical retrospectives of comics over the years, I have to admit that The Spectacular Sisterhood of Superwomen is among the best I've come across, with a genuine, honest and enthusiastic take on the medium and its history. It's clear that Nicholson is a fan as much as a critic, with her own, very nerdy, love of Dazzler on full display. Did you know the original Dazzler comics have never been reprinted? Crazy. Naturally, there are now more than a few obscure heroines I'm on the lookout for in miniature, even apart from the fact that I still don't own a Ms Marvel or Spider-Gwen, characters like Tomboy, Black Cat (not the Marvel one) and Superbitch deserve more time in the spotlight, even the small one that is my gaming table. Let's face it, part of me just wants to talk to people about weird and wonderful characters that they've never heard of, but better representation of differing genders and identities outside of the hetero-masculine norm is good for superheroes in general, not just my own games. To paraphrase Frank Miller (of all people); I want your sister to read comics. I want your girlfriend, your grandmother and your kids to read comics. So get reading and look out for some of these dynamic women of comics.