I totally agree with Greer on this one
The old super hero origins stories ROCK
They were super entertaining and even if a little out dated, made you want to keep reading.
Captain Marvel was my favorite too, mostly because of its tendencies to over explain everything, kind of like the Stardust superhero strip. kind of like what Greer said it was almost like the artist didn't expect the pictures to explain anything at all so they had to tell what happened as well. I was talking to friend about this and we decided it had to do with Radio broadcasts and how things where pretty deeply explained there as well. Either way it made my day on cheese factor alone.
I also really liked Plasticman. I've only ever seen him on random batman episodes from when i was a kid, so to see his how he started out was fun, that and he's an awesome character with pretty sweet abilities.
i regret to say i wasn't able to read Wonderwomen, every time i went to the library i couldn't find in on the shelf or in the hands of a fellow student, SO i'll have to see if i can find this this week. though i would like to know what YOU all thought of it?
Plasticman is an all-time favorite of mine; he's the only superhero I am interested about, AND Jack Cole was really something else for doing something so cool and new with the over-saturated superhero genre.
ReplyDeletePlas's backstory isn't really anything unusual - "The acid gave me powers!!" (I'm paraphrasing here.) But Plas himself is coming from a totally different place than most superheroes would even dare to go. He came from a background of crime, and he was a big-name gangster, no less. The Eel was a crime entity before he reformed himself (kinda literally) into Plasticman, and the story takes it one step further: Plas doesn't ever REVOKE his prior identity as a thief and a gangster, he EMBRACES it and uses it to further his own ends.
Of course, other revisions of Plas that came later have him struggling with old criminal habits, trying to completely erase his past as Eel O'Brian, and other such hoo-hah, but Golden Age, Jack Cole Plas is so... slippery and scheming with his use of his crime identity. I'd dare to say he is one of the smarter superheroes of the Golden Age for his exploitive tactics.
Good ol' Plas, why did they have to make you a b-lister? Why did they forget you and make that chump Elongated Man? If only I could get my hands on a doing a story with Plas somehow - that's the only way I would go to work for DC.
Hey guys… so first off, I'm still not a contributor on here?? I don't know how to change that so I suppose I'll just keep commenting on other people's things until that's fixed.
ReplyDeleteBut onwards!
I agree with John. The Prize Comcis were rather offensive, though I know given the time period that it's the "norm." Still, it's pretty disheartening to know those are the roots of comics. However, I know at the same time that it's just that day's embodiment of fear. The yellow scare, the white fear of the "savage" and unknown Africa… We have similar issues today, though I think they're at least somewhat more cloaked. Now our racism is most blatant in the airport rather than in comic books, haha. (wait, that's not funny)
But that's not what I'm supposed to be talking about! I should be talking about the comics at hand.
I enjoyed the Great Comic Book Heroes immensely. Coming is as someone with very little knowledge of superheroes, it helped me to understand some of their origins and the dynamics of the comics in their early days. Although I found the comics rather stagnant, I know that it's just the style of the day and it's my own personal dislike of comics with too much obvious narration (meaning, saying "the burly man kicked the baby" above a picture of a burly man kicking a baby; no, really, did he?). But nevertheless, it was enjoyable so I would recommend that from last week's selection. The Joker was very diabolical and creepy, definitely a great villain, and I vastly enjoyed Robin's finishing move. For some reason it just tickled me. In Superman, I liked that Louis Lane had some sort of personality, that she could go against a man… but sadly, only a vulnerable, be-speckled nice guy. She was definitely all for Superman… so much that it was sort of an insulting caricature (in my opinion) -- saying that women are so fickle and only like strong, stoic men who ignore them.
As for this week's reading, I guess I have to recommend the Smithsonian comics because for some reason the website linked would not open for me. I found the Smithsonian comics a little hard to read because at times the words just got so teeny tiny, but overall I enjoyed them. The comics were very entertaining, especially the one about the gossip column. That was my favorite -- particularly the part where he says "we saw a man with a blonde on his arm" and all the men hate him because their wives won't leave them alone even though there is no name in the statement! It tickled me.
I also really enjoyed reading Captain Marvel. The cover illustration was stunning (I had to stare at it for several minutes before I could open the book) and what was inside didn't disappoint, either. I really like Billy Batson as a superhero because of his sort of young naivete. It makes the whole thing a lot more light and fun than most other super comics. Also, the fact that he's a child excuses some of his less intelligent decisions (which in Superman just get sort of annoying) and also makes his blunt sort of attitude likable because he is young enough to see things in black and white. Also, the magical creatures' evil plotting in the second story was very amusing. "Argh! We will send these humans to the underworld because we don't like it there." It was just so… so… I don't know, it tickled me! For some reason I felt like the monsters should all go out for tea and crumpets together after a successful afternoon of securing their place in the above world.
Like Jackie, I was also unable to find Wonderwoman, as well as Art Out of Time (I found Art in Time, but it's not the same!!), so I suppose I will just have to keep an eye out for those…..
First off, I had a problem with getting to read Shazam, it wasn't on the shelf every time I checked it, which was a few times. I'll read it as soon as I can get it and post.
ReplyDeleteAs for all of the rest.
Yes for Plasticman. Thanks Emily for describing his history, that makes this character even better! Very good to know that the Eel was his true identity and he was a villain. Who would have thought that a character who was made to be funny, has one of he more interesting histories. As for the comic it's self, it was one of the more entertaining ones. The storytelling is crystal clear without TOO much narrative. All of the comics from this era seems to be very show and tell-ish. The characters have interesting powers even though they are quite silly. I think that the feel of this comic was way more thought out and original than most of the other superhero comics I've read.
On the contrary, the stories in Art out of TIme were bland. The stories didn't seem as well thought out and the art was a little more bland (in my very humble opinion). It honestly really bugs me when superheroes have powers that are convenient, like the Stardust character has retardant rays.
The Wonderwoman books seemed silly to me but at the same time, I saw how totally relevant and important they were for the time. Just the fact that the woman saves the day, for men, must have been a huge deal for that time. At this point, we all know that, originally, comics weren't made just for little boys. But this comic seems to go beyond just being another comic for girls, it could cater to boys as well. Based on that, I think that this is a really smart comic, that is actually saying something but making it accessible to everyone.
I want an invisible airplane.
RECOMMENDATION
So, I couldn't open the link for our other reading this week, but despite that setback, I still might have chosen:
SCRIBBLY
Scribbly looks like Harry Potter.
Now that I got that out of the way, I also thought that this book had the other best take on a super hero.
Moms as super heroes... awesome. And the fact that she became one because her son is a comic nerd, this idea is cool. Over all, it was just a fun read, good clear story, and interesting characters. All moms should take note.