The New Wonder Woman: Kick Ass Costume, Zero Hippolytas

JMS (the new writer of both Wonder Woman and Superman, the old writer of The Brave and the Bold and Babylon 5) has given the Amazonian princess a new costume (tough, form-fitting, more realistic, and totally not like star-spangled underpants!) and a new... back story? It seems that the scribe behind Spider-Man's marriage-erasing continuity-retcon One More Day has decided to give the same treatment to Wonder Woman. However, instead of erasing her adult life he's altering her WHOLE life.

The post-issue-600 Wonder Woman was sent away from Paradise Island as a child when the island came under attack. In the JMS penned-tale, the Amazons lost this battle and only a handful of them survived. Diana still grew up as a protector, but this time a protector of the refugees of a forgotten civilization, not of Man's World. The catch is that she's started getting flashbacks to her old life. And she wants it back.

Grumpy yet? I was, when I first read about the change! But then I finished reading the interview Newsarama had with JMS (in particular the part where he says he'll bring back whatever was more popular in the old continuity than in the new) and now I'm stoked! Wonder Woman is known to be a difficult write; maybe the new Diana will be gritty enough for everyone - writer and reader alike - to sink their literary teeth into!

Plus, a Wonder Woman redesign might just be able to bring us what we've all so desperately wanted: a Wonder Woman movie. ;)

SuperQueeros! for June 30th, 2010

June has one more new comic book day! I know my bank account is groaning under the strain, but for a fifth Wednesday there is a lot of cool queer comic-ness!

Justice League of America #46

Obsidian is alive and kicking in part 1 of the JLA/JSA crossover, though he has been turned evil by the Starheart (?) and his helping his dad who is dressed like Parallax (??) to kick the collective asses of his resurrected sister, the new, super-young JLA, and a cute, blue, pansexual Starman ( :-D... I mean "???"). So this title is amazing. Even if it doesn't make any sense. #whocares!

Justice Society of America #40

Speaking of not making any sense, after reading about Obsidian being an evil pawn of evil beating up his teammates, why not pick up the book that has Obsidian trapped as an egg while his teammates try to rescue him in the (FINALLY) final chapter of the JSA's Fourth Reich storyline?? Some old teammate is going to come help JSA at the last minute, so it is either Mr. Terrific, Obsidian, or both. I am opting for Mr. T, but also hoping that Obsidian will do some butt-kicking after he gets... hatched. #wtf

EDIT: Obsidian is totally hatched from egg-prison by page 4 and he both NARRATES and KICKS BUTT!!!!!!!!!!

Wonder Woman #600

SUPER AWESOME WONDER WOMAN CELEBRATION!!!!! I don't know if you picked up Batman #700, but I thought that, as a one-shot, it was a brilliant tribute to the character that touched upon his ubiquity in the human zeitgeist and the essential immortality he has so recently derived from his departure from his Bruce Wayne host. But that's Batman, and this is about Wonder Woman!! Let's hope for some cute lesbianism and awesome gods and a story just as good for the DCU's hardest hitting heroine!!!

Madame Xanadu #24

The senses!!!! This issue sees the start of a senses-themed arc in Xanadu. I'm really excited for the final issue as it explores Xanadu's pre-cognitive sense, but first we have to tromp through the other five senses! First up is "sight" as a woman who sees people morph into grotesqueries on the subway seeks help from our eponymous heroine. #alsocool

Gotham City Sirens #13

One year of Sirens! While the other Sirens are still on the dole, Ivy's been busy this year! She's got a 9-5 job, an office romance, and an old ally trying to sabotage it all! But what's with Selina chained to the Pieta on the cover??? Find out as the hottest of the Post-Bruce Wayne comics enters its second year! #celebrate

Chris Colfer is a show-tune singing NINJA!

Chris Colfer, better known as Kurt Hummel from FOX's hit tv show GLEE, appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, a popular British late-night show in the UK with co-stars Matthew Morrison and Amber Riley. Colfer has been getting major air-time and is quickly becoming the show's break-out star. As far as I've seen, he's been booking just as many talk-show appearances as the show's "stars" like Lea Michelle and Cory Monteith. On this specific episode though, Jonathan Ross somehow got word that Colfer can not only belt a high G but also stab you in the eye with a sai sword.

Check out the video below:

I can only hope some Hollywood exec sees this and decides to cast Chris in the sequel to the horribly mishandled movie adaptation of Elektra (which starred Jennifer Gardner):

Son of Elektra: A Musical

SuperQueeros! for June 23rd

Only three titles this week, and all three feature male couples. Who said gays can't commit?

The Authority: The Lost Year #9

It's the Authority vs. a used car salesman as our intrepid, dimension-hopping team lands in a land where Midnighter passed over the crusade against evil in favor of the crusade against high prices! The Lost Year is almost over and anything can happen (as long as it unhappens before World's End)!

Wildcats #24

Meanwhile, in the present, Midnighter has been checking up on Zealot and Maul since they broke away from Spartan's world-spanning Wildcats initiative, and from the preview we can tell he's not liking what he's seeing. Zealot is training her own army, ostensibly to protect Earth. But where is she getting Kheran warriors? This comic is about to take its ass-kicking with a side of moral ambiguity, IMO, and I am soooo hungry for it!

X-Factor #206

The last of the Second Coming tie-in trilogy! Did you read the preview??? Did half the team die in an explosion??? I mean, no, of course they didn't, but I AM STILL INTRIGUED. Also, Shatterstar inevitably kicks butt in this issue and it is inevitably HOTT. #buyit!

Claremont to Release "X-Women" in US; Marvel Reveals Year-long Celebration of Women A Practical Joke

I was browsing my local comic book store and noticed a flyer announcing Chris Claremont's newest release, X-Women. Originally released in Europe nearly four years ago by distributor Panini, X-Women (originally titled X-men: Rugazze In Fuga or X-men: Girls in Flight) is finally getting a US release. At face value this makes a lot of sense. Marvel has boldly stood up and took upon itself to celebrate and honor the Women of Marvel, both on the page and off it, in a year long series of various publishing programming from Girl Comics and Women of Marvel, to Her-oes and now X-women. But to release a Claremont-penned book by famous Italian erotic comic book artist Milo Manara seems to be a glaring two-steps back for Marvel's feminist push.  

It is no secret that I bear an deep and abounding hatred for legendary Marvel comic writer Chris Claremont. While he contributed some of the most memorable additions to X-men's canon in the past twenty years --including one of the most epic female-centered story lines to date-- something happened between then and now, that has caused Claremont to go over the deep end of the sexism pool.

Maybe it's precocious of me to lambaste the beloved icon of the industry, but in my eyes Chris Claremont and his writing feel completely dated, contrived, and painfully uninspired. His border-line obsession with perpetually mishandled and occasionally Asian, Betsy Braddock a.k.a. Psylocke is just creepy at this point, and despite his remarkable efforts at elevating many female characters in X-men like Jean Grey and Storm to their current hierarchical positions, his tendency to treat his female characters as playthings more than people is more than unnerving.

I'll reserve judgement until I can actually see the finished project, but just from the previews... things don't look good:

Read more »

Children's Crusade is Going to Be Super-Queer and Super-AWESOME

It's the day after new comics, which means that it's the first day of the next week of previews! The first few pages of Young Avengers: Children's Crusade #1 has just been teased, and they are queer, kick-@$$, and beautiful. Check it out over at Newsarama: http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album.php?aid=36063

SuperQueeros! for June 16th

Another dry week! We better get a deluge of queer-featuring comics in the coming weeks, because this week we only have:

The Joker's Asylum: Harley Quinn

"The Joker's Girlfriend" has always walked a sexily thin line in her relationship with Poison Ivy. Will we see some of their trademark flirtation in this one-shot, or just focus on the hot, hot mess that is Harley Quinn, psychologist, psycho, and the scariest of the Gotham City Sirens? Only one way to find out! ;-)

Honorable Mentions:

New Mutants #14 and X-Men: Legacy #237

The gays have kind of been sidelined in the Second Coming storyline, but the coming onslaught of Nimrod sentinels is sure to drum up at least some cameos by the likes of Karma and Bling!, the two queers currently at ground zero. Besides that, crazy action scenes have always been Yost's strength, and thousands of Nimrod sentinels against a hundred merry mutants? Sounds like the odds are in favor of violence fun!

POKEMON BLACK AND WHITE: New Pokemon=CUTE!, the New Professor is a Woman!

Ever since the Orange Islands League and its resident professor, Prof. Ivy, were teased (in the anime, between the Kanto and Johto seasons), I've been pining away for a female pokemon professor. It looks like fifth generation is going to answer my prayers with the introduction of Dr. Araragi, a PhD in the field of capturing small animals and making them fight until they become giant war-beasts! Also, she has a REALLY cute pokemon, Chiramii, the chinchilla pokemon! The speculation is that Chiramii is the fifth generation version of Rattata/Sentret/Zigzagoon/Bidoof. If so, good job Pokemon Company! You've finally made a stat-poor, normal-type rodent that has a redeeming factor (besides mastery of most HMs): it's cute as heck!!! :D

Sources: http://www.serebii.net/index2.shtml and http://bulbanews.bulbagarden.net/wiki/More_Black_and_White_information_surfacing and http://pokebeach.com/2010/06/june-corocoro-scans-leaked-new-pokemon

Science FACTion: FAA announces Automated Passenger Aircrafts; Skynet not a problem

The Federal Aviation Association announced recently that it is seeking to research and introduce pilotless aircrafts for commercial passenger use. Gizmodo reports:

The work falls under the umbrella of FAA's NextGen initiative, which looks to update many facets of our aging aviation infrastructure. Boeing subsidiary Insitu is providing the regulators with two ScanEagle drones for testing in New Jersey.

There's a good deal of work that has to be done before the days when a robot pilot will tell you you're free to move about the cabin—drones are currently cleared for flight on a case-by-case basis and are only allowed in restricted airspace. The FAA will be looking at how they can be integrated with existing air traffic control systems and eventually replace some of our more inefficient commercial aircraft.

I don't see any possible way this could go wrong...

Oh wait, didn't they make a movie about this kind of thing going HORRIBLY WRONG:

iPhone 4 Video Calls are totally heartwarming; in no way sketchy.

As many a techgeek has been plastered to their screens reading up on the latest news coming out of WWDC on Apple's long-awaited announcement of the new iPhone and its features. One of these features is the addition of video chat on the phone. Jobs demonstrates the functionality live, and it looks great. I have no doubt I, along with many iPhone users will enjoy it thoroughly.

But what cracked me up was the canned video following Jobs' introduction of the functionality depicting the various heart-warming ways that video chat will improve your life. From calling your bff to help with your fashion emergency to sending images of your ultrasound to your baby daddy overseas blowing up other children in the developing world. No where do they present the most obvious and likely the most quidkly-adopted scenario for video chat: video phone sex.

While it's true, deaf people need heartwarming, iPhone-induced memories too... all I'm saying is that I'll bet you good money that within a month of iPhone 4's launch, there will be vid-chatting on Grindr, and that can only lead to one thing...

SuperQueeros! for June 9th

All the Queers in Comicdom, this week:

X-Men: Second Coming - Revelations: Hellbound #2 (of 3)

The gayest team of X-Men ever gathered continues on their quest to rescue the Limbo-lost Illyana Rasputin. But Gambit's mysterious dark side has been triggered by the demon dimension, and it does not look very friendly. Will Gambit save the team or smite them? Will Anole, or another X-man, lose another limb? And does Magik even NEED saving? The baddies haven't tied her up and, last I checked, she was a cruel and ruthless Darkchylde. This storyline is short, sweet, gay and PACKED with action. #GetIt

Secret Six #22

The end of the Catman revenge story! Watch half-naked boys and kick-ass lesbians knock the snot out of mercenaries, assassins, and other baddies that are badder (but not as bad-ass) as the band of bad guys we call the Secret Six. And thank Gail Simone for making all your dreams come true.

The Rawhide Kid #1 (of 4)

Is it just me, or is the Rawhide Kid kind of a Mary Sue? Except without the dying part? That opening scene in the preview? Whatever the case, he's one the oldest, most high-profile gay characters out there. Pick up his book if you like cowboys, comedy, or Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: Rawhide Kid is a consummate marksman, a flippant vigilante, and definitely not "masc looking for same." (Can you tell I was on Grindr this weekend? [You can tell.])

Honorable Mention:

House of Mystery #26

I love this book, but the queer content has been NON-EXISTENT recently. I'll upgrade it on Wednesday if this month has some gay trolling. Edit: THERE IS CUTE GAY CONTENT. Only for a panel, but still. Finally some gay troll page time!

#OMG: BBC Courts Lady Gaga for Dr. Who Guest Spot

Four months ago, Lady Gaga performed at the Brit Awards in a crazy three tiered mumu from outer space. Your friendly internet bloggers here at Scarlet Betch made the astute (and frankly half joking) observation that Lady Gaga was auditioning for a guest spot on Doctor Who with her crazy spage-aged, outer limits, encounter the third kind outfit. It turns out that three possible things have occured:

1) I have developed pre-cognitive powers, likely limited to the world of pop culture and geekery...

2) BBC Programming Executives are total Scarlet Betch readers...

3) It's a coincidence (AS IF!)

This is because the Daily Star reported on Saturday that BBC is indeed pursuing the infamous Lady Gaga for a guest spot on Doctor Who, as the good Time Lord's most nefarious and outrageous villain yet. 

And scriptwriter Gareth Roberts revealed he has already come up with a storyline that would see The Doctor (Matt Smith, 27) go GaGa.

Gareth told Doctor Who magazine: “The script might end up on screen one day with Lady GaGa, who will have fallen on hard times.”

A source said: “She is no stranger to dressing up and would be more than a match for the Doctor. It would be a great coup to get her.”

All I can say is that I cannot way for my prophecy to come true!

SuperQueeros! for June 3rd, 2010

Comics come out on Thursday this week! And the only title featuring queer characters (that I know about!) is...

The Authority #23

The Authority goes Alien when a rescue mission instead introduces a super threatening alien threat aboard their ship. Rainmaker electrocutes it (I hope!). Everyone rejoices (Inevitably :P). Other, non-Rainmaker details from the solicit: The High brings the bugger aboard (Who is The High?), there is a "latest century baby" (Is Rainmaker raising it? #gayparenting), and the Carrier may have a sinister agenda (It's a spaceship that looks like a dog nose! CUTE!) . It's one-shot-ish! And basically no other books come out this week! #getit!

Massive Sinkhole... or Mole Man? I vote Mole Man

News recently came out of Guatamala describing a giant sinkhole that engulfed an entire intersection in Guatamala City:

Residents claim that a faulty sewage drain is to blame and that a smaller sinkhole had opened up in the area not to long ago. I think we're being lied to. Clearly, the Mole Man has begun his invasion of the Surface world. Now, where's the Fantastic Four when you need them: