IN YOUR FACE JAM: “Batman ‘66” Is What the Industry Needs
Turns out I love Batman more than I thought. EXCITEMENT.
These images brought to you by tomorrow’s In Your Face Jam.
ORSON SCOTT CARD HIRING SENDS MIXED SIGNALS TO DC COMICS’ LGBT FANS
I wrote this last Friday after the news broke, and after my friend Michael Hartney alerted me to it via his Tumblr. At the time of writing, I was very big on the idea that petitions do nothing. I mean, for the most part they don’t. For the most part they’re just the result of extremely passive people adding their name to an online thing without really lifting a finger to right the wrong. So my piece closes with a call to counter whatever money DC gave Card, and whatever money he’ll therefore put towards hurting the LGBT community, with donating to the HRC. Putting your money where your mouth is.
Then over the weekend, a petition actually gained traction (unlike every other comic petition ever) and my good friend Michael’s heartfelt plea blew up on Tumblr. To which I now say screw not signing a petition. Sign that petition and donate whatever money you’d give this Superman comic to the HRC. DC Comics has to know where their fans side (that side is the right side of history, by the way).
I Just Wrote This To DC Comics
Hi, DC!
My name’s Michael Hartney. I’m as big a Superman fan as you’ll ever meet. I have bought Superman comics every Wednesday since I learned to read, which was nearly 30 years ago. Superman was the subject of my blog and my one-man show. My name is tattooed on my arm in Kryptonian, for Zod’s sake. Oh, and I’m super-gay.
I can’t and won’t support the hiring of Orson Scott Card on Adventures of Superman. There’s a difference between having conservative political beliefs and being an active force of bigotry and hatred. Card is the latter. So draw away, Ethan Van Sciver, you fabulous Republican! Fine with me! Orson Scott Card, however, is in an entirely different, unjust league.
If this was a holocaust denier or a white supremacist, there would be no question. Hiring that writer would be an embarrassment to your company. Well, Card is an embarrassment to your company, DC. This is the same. The LGBTQ community will no longer take this lying down. Our civil rights are no longer up for debate or discussion.
Ugh. And of all the characters Card could have been hired to write, you give him Superman? The character that taught me to lead by example? To do the right thing, even when it was hard? To keep going, even when it seemed hopeless? What an insult. Kids are killing themselves. They are killing themselves in a climate of intolerance and homophobia publicly fostered by people like Orson Scott Card. You don’t have to contribute to this. You shouldn’t. You mustn’t.
What can you do to keep my business, and the business of other LBGTQ readers (and their straight allies) who feel utterly betrayed by this thoughtless, illogical decision? Great question, DC. Yank the story. Don’t publish it. You don’t have to fire Card. Pay him, thank him for his time, and run something else. Say, by Phil Jimenez, or one of the other incredible LGBTQ talents you have in your stable that have been alienated by this colossal blunder. Then, publish an It Gets Better comic. With 100% of the proceeds going to the Trevor Project. Stories starring Batwoman, Bunker, Alan Scott, and straight heroes too. I’ll do you a favor: I’ll write the Superman story, free of charge. I’ve got more than thirty years of Superman research under my belt, so I think I know him pretty well.
I wish you did too.
OUTRAGE: DC Comics has just hired anti-gay writer Orson Scott Card for their new digital Adventures of Superman.
He’s written publicly that he believes marriage equality would lead to the end of civilization. He’s also on the board of a notorious anti-equality organization.We need to let DC Comics know they can’t support Orson Scott Card or his work to keep LGBT people as second-class citizens. They know they’re accountable to their fans, so if enough of us speak out now, they’ll hear us loud and clear. Sign and share!
Fuck Orson Scott Card forever.
New episode of MATT & BRETT LOVE COMICS!
JLA #10-15! With Jason Flowers!
We read the entire Rock of Ages storyline by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter with America Won’t Shut Up co-host Jason Flowers. Check it out!
This is somehow the first DC superheroes comic book we’ve read. I don’t know how we did that! Accidental! And when you consider what’s up with Supes in this storyline, one could say we still haven’t discussed a Superman comic on the show.
MATT & BRETT LOVE COMICS #1
with NICOLE DRESPEL
Click here for download (tasty Mediafire! iTunes-ness forthcoming)
Show notes!
- 0:00:00 Introductions are made! Welcome to Matt & Brett Love Comics!
- 0:03:50 Matt and Brett discuss DC’s domination of the market share.
- 0:07:56 Nicole just doesn’t get Animal Man! Otter Man, though, is mighty appealing…and also worth discussing in-depth.
- 0:13:08 Matt recounts his favorite Spider-Man 3 background extra.
- 0:15:33 Adam X makes the first of surely many mentions on the podcast.
- 0:17:29 Amazing Spider-Man #673 facilitated Matt’s single white female-ing of Spidey.
- 0:23:44 Animal Man #3 and Swamp Thing #3 were both incredibly disturbing
- 0:29:05 Avengers Academy #21 is the first of the school books to be discussed. It has everything Nicole likes in comics, except type faces.
- 0:34:12 If you were a superhero, where would you go on a roadtrip?
- 0:35:31 Action Comics #3 shows the 1% of Krypton. Should there be a spinoff called Krypton Babies?
- 0:45:00 Regenesis fever kicks off with New Mutants #33 and X-Men #20! Nicole perks up when she hears that the X-Men have fought vampires, and what should the New Mutants really be called?
- 0:52:05 Uncanny X-Men #1 is discussed; does Cyclops’ letter to humanity make him an asshole?
- 0:59:57 Brett says that he could be pleased with a story that is just X-Men remembering things they did, which leads to a discussion of Jean Grey’s botched proposal to Cyclops
- 1:01:20 Wolverine & The X-Men #1 is pretty much the best thing ever.
- 1:08:05 Nicole leads the talk on the elaborately named Anita Blake: Circus of the Damned - The Scoundrel #2. Watersnake Vampire
- 1:13:56 Matt thinks Nicole will love one of DC’s relaunched heroines.
(Source: uncannybrettwhite)
Stack Exchange - Bringing Writers and Fans Together!
If the dozen+ action figures on my desk here at StackHQ doesn’t give it away, I’m a pretty big comic book fan. Like, really big. Naturally I gravitated towards the Science Fiction & Fantasy site, where my abnormally high-levels of X-Men/Buffy/Star Wars adoration raise few-to-no eyebrows. I fit in somewhere, guys! Sci-Fi is still a Beta site, which means it has a lot of room to grow. Eventually it will graduate and get a fancy site design (like Cooking or Gaming) and all will be right with the world. Yes, goodbye poverty and war! The universe will go the way of Star Trek once the Sci-Fi site has graduated!
Since I am a pretty big proponent of peace and harmony, I’m doing my darnedest to expand the scope of Sci-Fi.SE and spread the word to potential users. Come on, the people that know the entire history of Bib Fortuna are the exact same people that have a million questions about him. The site is incredibly useful if you have questions about everything ranging from story identification to crazy-detailed explanations of pseudo-science and everything in between. There’s now a new area that I can foresee some Stack Exchange sites excelling at and benefiting from, one that I’ve been testing out for a while now: direct creator/fan interaction!
In a site like Sci-Fi, users are asking questions about works of fiction. The answers to these questions can be quite speculative, and when it comes down to it, the only person that knows the answer is the person who actually wrote it. Users benefit from having writers on the site, answering questions about their work. “But Brett,” you’re now saying out loud to your computer, worrying your co-workers, “that sounds JUST like a forum, which is EXACTLY what Stack Exchange wants to avoid being!” First, your co-workers now think less of you. Second, I see your point! But where do we differ from a forum? Creators can ask questions too. When you’re dealing with shared universes like the Marvel and DC Comics ones, who knows the minutiae of continuity more than the fans you are writing for? Our site definitely lends itself towards comic book editorial staff; now instead of doing the exhausting Google searches yourself, you can crowd-source with your actual fanbase, who, because they are on a Stack site, are providing accurate information and hyperlinks and etc.! Wow!
So far I have implemented this 3 times, and I’d call all three of them a success.
- On September 6th, I asked a question on behalf of comic book writer Fred Van Lente, who asked via Twitter if She-Hulk could get a haircut. User Martha F. replied with an incredibly detailed list of short-haired Shulks…with pictures!
- On September 25th, someone asked “How does the Hulk change mass?” I tweeted this question to “Hulk” writer Jeff Parker, who tweeted an answer back. I answered the question on his behalf and BAM, accepted answer.
- On October 25th I asked a question about “iZombie” and tweeted it at series writer Chris Roberson. Robserson then actually registered with the site to answer my question, providing the most direct creator-to-reader interaction yet on the Sci-Fi site! I’m assuming. Seriously, I doubt that George Lucas has answered “Is C-3PO a slave?”
I want these types of interactions to be a daily occurrence on Sci-Fi. I honestly believe our site is beneficial to professionals in the field of creating science fiction, and I want them to use it! After all, the more people that get involved in the site the quicker it can graduate…and then we all get world peace.
World peace!
—-
Brett
CHAOS Agent 71
