Superqueeros! for November 25th, 2009

Each week we bring you a summary of which new comics are featuring LGBT(etc.) characters! Now, I'm no Amadeus Cho, so I may miss one or two. If you spot an omission, please let me know in the comments section and I'll correct it!

It's Thanksgiving weekend and I'm giving thanks that three of today's best queer heroes are seeing action this Wednesday!

Detective Comics #859

It's a Don't Ask, Don't Tell crossover this week as we see the next chapter in Batwoman's secret origin and I can't wait to see how JHW3 illustrates "homophobia"! Plus, Batman, military uniforms, and the cover teases a queer-bashing! Let's get this party started!

Also, a Question/Huntress team-up as DC beats the lackluster co-feature to death. Evidently, the kick-ass final installment from last month (that redeemed the long-winded tale in my eyes) was NOT the final installment. Greeeeeat.

New Mutants #7

The Hellions are back!!! And Karma is going to kick @$!!! Now I just need Grace Jones on the radio and Robbie Williams to make out with me and my 80's wet dream will be complete! But seriously, Roulette and Cat's Eye win all the internetz. #lolcatzeye

Uncanny X-Men #517

The classic X-Team doesn't make my list too often, but the preview clearly shows Northstar chillin' with the other X-men gathered to defend their new island nation. Let's cross our fingers for some gay-boy vs. faceless-death-machine beat down!

Also, we've got the Ambiguously Queer Duo of Dark Wolvie and Gotham City Sirens! And from the Wolvie preview, it's looking pretty betchin' over in sociopathic-sexuality territory!

Dark Wolverine #80

Daken is supposed to neatly apprehend and arrest the villains who just kicked his ass. HAHAHA! Yeah, sure. Plus, this shot! Hawt.

Gotham City Sirens #6

Poison Ivy's on the cover! I haven't been reading this title and the preview is really vague, but evidently the Joker guests and Harley Quinn as EARTH-SHATTERING CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!! I'm hoping that they mean this issue is gonna be a Sapphic classic, but I'm not holding my breath.

Scarlet Betch Episode 10: "X-Plosion!"

Jason and Anthony are back at it again with a great new issue of Scarlet Betch! The new comic lists exploded with new X-titles this week and we dish about Dark X-men, X-men Legacy, X-force, and X-Factor! Featured music this week is Lady Gaga's new single, Bad Romance that I'm just a little obsessed with... :P

Hope you enjoy!

Direct Download

xoxo,
Scarlet Betch

Verti Go-Go

For the past two weeks I've been trading e-mails and splitting pizza with C.L. Minou, aka transfeminist from BelowTheBelt. What happens when you put two geek bloggers from other sides of the country together and feed them curry caffeine? Why, they start working on a comic, of course! And then one of them gets the idea to just run with it like it was once owned by Margaret Cho and form their own label.

Voila! Cowgirl Astronaut Comics, the first queer trans feminist comic label (run by bloggers). I can now add "editor/creator of comic label" to my ever-growing list of things I will probably never get paid for no matter how passionate I am about it. Mama be so proud. I bring this up not because I think you care what it is that I do during my "me time", but because it is a convenient and awkwardly relevant segway to my topic for this article: my favorite comic label, Vertigo.

For those who either don't know what Vertigo is, or love explanations for explanation's sake, Vertigo is DC's "darker, more mature" imprint. While it's hyped and marketed as the gritty "No Kids Allowed!" answer to DC's more kid-friendly mainstream, it is home to some of the most artfully rendered and poignantly worded comics available. And they sort of started the "trade paperback" trend, which is what 90 percent of my comic collection consists of, so yeah, read as much bias into that as you want, you'll still be way off.

The future me who might have a job and some actual follow through would like her label to a template somewhat like Vertigo (sans the megacorporate connection): mature, socially relevant themes, gratuitous but fabulously drawn sex and violence, subversion of mainstream archetypes and tropes, and the occasional dabbling in absurdism. Gotta put that college learning to use somewhere.

Below is a modest list of my favorite Vertigo comics, all of which would appear on my "top ten comics OF ALL TIME. OF ALL TIME!"

Note that while worshipping/admiring Alan Moore than I already do would probably result in a "restrainingus orderus" curse cast upon me, Moore never actually penned anything for Vertigo, although his works are cited as helping necessitate the creation of Vertigo, and V For Vendetta was re-issued under the Vertigo name after Moore swore never to work for DC again. So, yeah, just in case you were curious.

And by no means should this list be construed as a "best". I don't do "bests" on anything. I rate things based on my own peculiar and admittedly random tastes. Sometimes I like things that suck and hate things that are beautiful. Try not to think about it. You, like the Netflix suggestion system before you, will lose your damn mind.

Read more »

Who Was the First Gay Superhero?

It seems like every time a new LGBT comic book character debuts there's always some uninformed sensationalist ready to proclaim him the first gay superhero. Which, as any real comic book fan will tell you, is ridiculously false. But how do you, as the informed voice of reason the you indubitably are, rebut those claims? Who was the first gay superhero?

Well, the kids over at Bleeding Cool have done their research and they have an answer. Rich Johnston has compiled a list of the first firsts in comics for the gay, if not the LGBT, community. Is he the first to have done so? Probably not. But he's definitely the first whose article I've linked to in a Scarlet Betch blog post on Thursday, the 19th of November, 2009. And, as we say on tweeter, #precision.

Superqueeros! for November 18th, 2009

Each week we bring you a summary of which new comics are featuring LGBT(etc.) characters! Now, I'm no Amadeus Cho, so I may miss one or two. If you spot an omission, please let me know in the comments section and I'll correct it!

Dark Avengers #11

It's a double header this week! It turns out that Victoria Hand, the Maria Hill of H.A.M.M.E.R., is a HUGE LESBIAN! And a former accountant! Look out, Mystique, you've got competition for my favourite female-identified supervillain! The other header is Daken! Does ink really do it for you guys? I think Wolvie II might have to pheremone me to get me into bed. Though he is really good looking for a 60-year-old... Oh, and Norman Osbourne is going crazy or something. Like we say on tweeter, #boring.



The Authority: Lost Year #3 (of 12)

FINALLY, someone is wrapping up Grant Morrison's two-issue "run" on The Authority. What, you don't remember that? Yeah, that's cause it was like two years ago, with at least 6 months between issues. And the first issue didn't even have The Authority IN it. Not even Midnighter! Wildstorm reprinted those first two issues last week as a "reader", so if you don't have the first two issues, pick it up and jump on board. Apollo + Midnighter = Always Good.



Mighty Avengers #31

EVERY AVENGER EVER!! FIGHTING!! Look for some Billy/Teddy cameos as the Unspoken/Loki storyline comes to a head. Did I mention how pissed I am that Loki's a boy again? Gender-swap is not just for fanfiction, okay Marvel?




JSA 80-Page Giant #1

Wow! 80 pages! I wonder how many of them will have Obsidian on them?! Or even in the background! Please?
Seriously, though, DC, if he's an inanimate object, does he really count as part of the team?



And, just because NPH is the opposite of JSA-induced invisibility...
Dr. Horrible #1 !!!!

Scarlet Betch Episode 9: "My OTP PWNS Your Pheromones!"

We're back with another great issue of Scarlet Betch! Anthony returns as we discuss the newest in Buffy, Young Avengers, New Mutants, and Batwoman! Sorry for the delays, loyal listeners. Life kicked us in the butt the past few weeks.




Direct Download

SuperQueeros for Novemeber 4th, 2009

Each week we bring you a summary of which new comics are featuring LGBT(etc.) characters! Now, I'm no Amadeus Cho, so I may miss one or two. If you spot an omission, please let me know in the comments section and I'll add it tout de suite!

Dark X-Men #1 (of 5)

It's the one and only MYSTIQUE getting back to her roots and leading a team of inane male characters on a rampage across the Marvel Universe! It's the return of the twinkier version of Cable, Nate Grey! And it's the return of a pseudo-Jean Grey, and this time it's NOT Madelyne! Read the preview and be shocked. Read the book and be amazed. Dark Reign was awesome for the Young Avengers, and it's looking to be just as hot for the X-Men Mystique!

Trailer Trashed Pt 2

The movie theater has always been a main fixture of my life, an anchor, if you will. By the time I had my own car (yes, Dad, you paid for it, please don't interrupt again) it wasn't unheard of for me to go to the theater once a week or more. Every year since I turned 18 I took my brothers to see a movie on Christmas Eve, and once saw the late showing of Valkyrie on Christmas night (because nothing says holiday cheer like watching Nazis shoot at Tom Cruise disguised as a pirate). In senior year of high school, I got a job at a nearby Harkins, abused the "free movie privileges", and immediately quit after I learned all the blind spots in their security system. My friends and I didn't pay admission for almost a year.

At one point there were 4 theaters within a 5-10 minute driving distance from my house, though in my last year in Phoenix I had shirked them all in favor of drive-thrus and independent cinemas, having developed an attack of the conscience from supporting businesses who openly supported anti-LGBT causes (Harkins Theatres was one of many southwestern theater chains that refused to show Brokeback Mountain, and once while working for them I was told to ask a gay couple to cease kissing or risk being ejected...hell is waiting for me with open arms).

After moving out to the Bay, my trips to the theater have decreased significantly, for two reasons: 1) I'm so poor I can't afford a decent haircut, and 2) there just aren't as many of them. Today we drove half an hour to see The Men Who Stare At Goats. The only independent theater I've seen/heard of/been to is The Roxie, where I saw Dod Sno and laughed hysterically the whole way through (but then tearfully cringed at the amputation scene...that's like the one thing I can't stand seeing depicted...which is disturbing when you consider I've sat through documentaries about people who like to be fucked by horses).

Consequently, my Netflix use has sky-fucking-rocketed. I wonder if this will eventually replace my habit of going to the theater, if my employment issue doesn't improve or if I just don't find a warm, local theater not run by a hate group (btw, still haven't found Jesus) that I like.

On the plus side, I've relied entirely on youtube to provide me with movie trailers, which is becoming an increasingly beneficial arrangement, since I'm batting about .100 (that's 1 base hit for every ten pitches, golf fans) with good, view-worthy trailers at the few showings I am going.

Whatever, enough with my life story. Let's get trashed.

Read more »

Diary of a Diseased Wench

Being a geek is a double edged 1d10 two-handed sword with +4 against born again orcs: on the one hand, a lifetime of rolling around naked on a pile of Alan Moore titles has left me physically frail with no immune system and a psychosomatic dependence on orange soda. On the other hand, when all that inappropriate hugging and kissing of platonic friends that I'm so fond of finally bites me in the ass and puts me on bed rest with the infectious disease of the week, I have many more means of distraction at my fingertips than your average infected bag of mostly water, and in some twisted way can find a sort of productivity in catching up on TV shows, video games and the occasional picture book with the word shapes.

After coming down with flu, I took some time off from my hectic schedule of bemoaning my life choices and painstakingly crafting the facade that I've got my shit together so I can give my father the impression I've risen above all the neurosis and mistrust of others he instilled in me in a child because somehow that will mean that I've "won" so I could recharge and cleanse myself of the toxins I more than likely invited into my body with open arms. This involves lots of time playing the Wii, catching up on Season 3 of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and writing "I will not mention my inappropriate obsession with Princess Peach on the SB Podcast" over and over on Hello Kitty stationery. In that time, I had lots of time to think, ponder, contemplate, and other shit I say the booze and weed"helps me do". And I've come with a modest list of questions, observations, and comments that I had nowhere else to post.

Read more »

Scarlet Betch Episode 8: "OMG Games"

Sorry for the delay folks! We have a very special edition of Scarlet Betch. Anthony was indisposed this week, and so we were able to get the ever spectacular Jetta to step up to the plate for the podcast!

We chat a lot about comic book/gaming intersections, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, Slashfic, Wesley Crusher, and much much more! It's a shade long, but it's filled with great content. Thanks Jetta for stepping up! Hope you all enjoy.


Direct Download

SuperQueeros for Novemeber 4th, 2009

Each week we bring you a summary of which new comics are featuring LGBT(etc.) characters! Now, I'm no Kiden Nixon, so I may miss one or two due to time constraints. If you spot an omission, please let me know in the comments section and I'll correct it tout de suite!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #30
Super Kick-@$$!!! Buffy just raised some wrath spirits, so there's about to be some smack down in this issue! Word on the street is that the cover inspired some of the events inside the book, so pick it up and see what in the heck a glowing stake in a snow storm has to do with anything!

The Authority #16
Cool cover this week! Also, Midnighter is back in the book, making "earth-shattering discoveries" left and right! Maybe he'll discover a writer who won't put his love life on ice! #earthshattering #shade