“I used to kind of imagine I was Wolverine. Somehow, it always got two or three more reps out of me”: Hugh Jackman’s work out secret revealed!
Wait, there’s a future of political cartoons?: Daryl Cagle on the subject of the future of political cartoon syndication, in a must-read piece from Monday.
Diana, Gail and Mary Sue: Noah Berlatsky’s fifteen-thousandth post of the year about Wonder Woman covers Gail Simone’s first arc on the series. In general, Berlatsky seems to hold that no one’s been able to write Wondy right since her creator. Despite enjoying various aspects of many of the talented folks who have kept Wonder Woman comics alive since the Golden Age, I wholeheartedly agree. Berlatsky seems to have liked a lot of what Simone managed to do though, even if she too fell far short of Marston. Here’s a taste:
In the end, then, maybe I spoke too quickly when I said that Simone managed to avoid the traps Marston laid for her. She does outmaneuver several of them…but she’s left with maybe the biggest one of all, which is that, unlike most any other super-hero outside of Mr. A, Wonder Woman was actually about something. Marston had stuff to say, in his cranky way, about real issues, peace and war among them. His solutions to these problems were more or less crazy (have woman rule over the world and teach men submission and love as a way to combat war), but they were thought through and existed in a coherent (if cracked) belief system.
I kinda hope Berlatsky’s working on a Wonder Woman book or something, because he’s gotta have just about enough material for one stockpiled at this point.
This is the first time the thought of Sandman fumetti ever occurred to me: Check out photographer Matt Miller’s super-cool Endless family photo, using models dressed as Neil Gaiman’s seven beings who are like gods, but are not gods. Actually, you should check out all of Matt Miller’s photos…when you’re not at work, as there are a lot of naked ladies. (Via Spurgeon, via Forbidden Planet, via Gaiman’s Twitter, if I’ve got that attribution stream correct).
May 20th, 2009 at 9:54 am
I’d be happy to write a book…if someone would pay me. No offers on that front so far, alas.
Thanks for your kind words, though!
May 21st, 2009 at 1:25 am
It was fun to read. A completely faulty premise, though, I have to say. I don’t like Mary Sue’s and don’t write them, and if I did, Wonder Woman wouldn’t be my choice even remotely. And I think you strained noticeably in trying to make your thesis work, if I may say.
But please don’t take that as an insult, Noah, I thought it was great fun to read. And I’d buy your book, dammit!