I have no idea if this is a stunt or not. , Ted Kord, the real Blue Beetle for me, has now shown up again alive in one of the last issues of the new Manhunter.

With this now known, I have to wonder if Sue Dibny will be able to find her way back from the dead too? She most definitely should, that’s for sure. What her husband is going through in 52 is decidedly unappealing, and he doesn’t belong in such a crappy scenario.

has just been produced (here’s the ). There’s a short trailer available now, but , while it’s 95 percent completed, a release date still hasn’t been scheduled. I hope it’ll be released this summertime. Eisner is one of the best pioneering cartoonists of his time, and I’ve never been able to look over enough about his writings/drawings. I’d sure like to learn more about him, and this could be the best place to get some insight on the best of his works.

Via .

This is one of the most horrific things I have ever seen, more proof of how the medium of comic books can be exploited for bad purposes and intentions. From (via ):

Feb. 7 - KGO - Reading, writing and anti-militarism? That may soon be the case in San Francisco where a new comic book pushing a political point of view is raising serious questions.

Ronald Reagan hugging Osama Bin Laden, corporate America celebrating the spoils of war, a cartoon view of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal isn’t off limits in this comic book — “Addicted to War — Why the U.S. Can’t Kick Militarism.”

It’s an undisputedly leftist view of the United States involvement in wars, and it may soon come to classrooms in San Francisco public schools.

[…]

Frank Dorrel, Publisher, “Addicted to War”: “We’re really glad that the San Francisco School District, which is apparently against the war in Iraq, well not apparently, obviously is, has chosen to do this.”

Frank Dorrel is now helping to supply the San Francisco Unified School District with 4,000 copies of the book for use in high school social studies and history classes. The books are being donated by a local anti-war activist.

Frank Dorrel: “It’s important to show once again - the alternative history of U.S. foreign policy — of U.S. wars, of U.S. militarism.”

Leo Lacayo: “You need to focus in on both sides of the issue in order for students to create their own opinion.”

Leo Lacayo is with the San Francisco Republican Party — he opposes the book’s approval. Lacayo accuses the district of being anti-military.

Leo Lacayo: “If you just look at this — it’s a comic book with bad illustrations. It’s obviously made to poke fun at a very serious situation.”

Lacayo isn’t alone.

Col. Robert Powell, S.F. Junior ROTC: “We wouldn’t have this United States if it wasn’t for this revolutionary army to fight against England to be the United States. And like I said we’d probably have slavery if we didn’t have the civil war.”

Colonel Powell has run the San Francisco Junior ROTC program since 1983.

The San Francisco School Board voted to phase out the program last November, the board, taking a political position, says public schools are no place for the military. Colonel Powell says “Addicted to War” could be a valuable classroom tool, but he’s concerned purely political ideology may cloud how teachers present the book.

Robert Powell: “You can put this out to stimulate discussion, and in fact use it to get discussion going in a good civics class, you know what I mean, but you go to have two opposing points of view.”

There is however, no prescribed book for the opposing perspective — that will be up to teachers. The district says it is looking for books that will adequately present an opposing points of view.

Something tells me that, should this ghastly “product” ever find its way into the schools, that it won’t have any differing perspectives to accompany it. Exactly why there have to be objections made to its use.

There is no word when the book will make it into classrooms. The anti-war activist who pushed for the district to use the book, is still pulling together the cash for the purchase.

I hope the activist doesn’t make it. This just shows why SF’s schools are not a place where I’d want to send my children.

The spoke to the publisher, Frank Dorrel, and what he says really makes my blood boil:

The current publisher, Frank Dorrel, came across the book in 1999. “This is the best thing I’ve ever read,” the Air Force veteran told the Guardian. “I’ve got a whole library of US foreign policy, but this puts it all together in such an easy format. Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti — they’re all [authors of] great books, but they aren’t easy reads.”

That’s a big fat lie. They’re not “easy” reads, they’re unreadable! Just plain sick.

A few weeks ago, the (via ) spoke about a comic book being published by some ultra-liberal European Parliament members (which can all be found on ):

What do Euro-MPs do when they are not lunching or filling in expenses forms?

It seems that they fall in love with investigative journalists, brave assassination attempts and single-handedly take on corrupt Chinese generals - according to the Liberal group in the European parliament, at least.

Tired of its staid image, the 106-strong group has spent £25,000 printing 40,000 copies of Operation Red Dragon, a cartoon storybook depicting the glamorous and daring life of “Elisa Correr”, the personification of the “new breed” of “exciting” Liberal Euro-MP. While real parliamentarians fret about whether an amendment to the latest European Union directive might offend the committee chairman, the fictitious Miss Correr is ready to torpedo inter-continental trade deals or take on hit men for the sake of her principles.

Cosy compromises are just not her style, especially when her boyfriend Tony, a British photo-journalist, is being held prisoner by a renegade oriental general.

“The Liberal Democrats have principles to defend and this is a question of human rights, so we must take that risk,” she says, when asked if it is worth upsetting one of the EU’s biggest trade partners.

[…]

Yannick Laude, a Liberal group spokesman who was responsible for the storyline, said the objective in producing the book was to try to hold the attention of visitors to the parliament.

“We noticed that they took the umbrellas and the pens, but threw away the policy leaflets before they walked out of the door,” she said. “This way we can get them to take some information back into their homes.”

Yep, brilliant idea, alright, but frankly, I’d rather read about the adventures of Black Canary instead. I’m not fooled by the Lib-Dems, as they’re actually one of the worst political movements in all of Britain Londonistan. The second picture featured is what leads me to think that this is simply not what one could hope for in here.

While we’re on the subject, points to another hilarious idea that the EU have come up with: ! Wow, the very currency that’s ruining the continent this very moment!

Some things cannot be just simply featured as plot devices, and they certainly can’t be whitewashed either. In this topic, I’m going to look over at least 3 older items from the history of comics, two from circa the “Iron Age” of comics, which was during the late 80s-early 90s, and one from during 2000, that feature some examples of comic scripts that did some really clumsy things from a political perspective, mistakes that shouldn’t have to be repeated today.

First up, we have Larry Hama’s story from The Avengers #329 from 1991, in which the EMH, at one of their various crossroads in getting a team roster set up, received an offer from the United Nations to give them a charter that would require them to - get this - take on only extraterrestrial threats to the earth, whether from space or even subterranean ones from inside.
Putting aside the fact that in the course of three issues here, they do deal with some extraterrestrial beings, here named the “Tetrarchs of Entropy”, I kid you not, what Hama was doing there was really REALLY stupid, because the UN, as most people might know today, is one of the most corrupt organizations in the world they claim to represent. They attack America and Israel with inherent frequency for their supposed violations of human rights, yet have very little to say, if at all, about the human rights violations committed by Islamic countries and dictatorships. The UN also has quite a few crimes to their record as well, not the least being a , something , and even the that Kofi Annan was one of the biggest profiteers from.

, had this to say about Hama’s incredibly dumb part:

What an utter piece of garbage. I can’t believe that Captain America, of all people, in good conscience could have sanctioned it. Maim, kill and torture as many people as you want, and the Avengers will sit on their collective super powered fat asses and not do a damn thing to stop you, as long as your U.N. dues are paid up.

Obviously the writer of this story (Larry Hama) didn’t intend for it to sound the way I have interpreted it almost 15 years after it was written, but in a world where state sanctioned terrorism is par for the course, it just makes me ill.

And it certainly is embarrassing. The EMH should not have to be held hostage to dictates like those, not by any governing power and most certainly not by the UN. But how could even the other members be so gullible to this offering? Something tells me that Black Widow and Black Panther wouldn’t have been fooled either. Larry Hama may have only written five issues of the Avengers at the time, then left and another writer, whom I’ll have to look up, took over.

Next, from a few years earlier, there’s Justice League America #7 from 1987, which almost casually features what may either be a Saudi member of the UN, or a newscaster from Saudi Arabia itself, in one of the pages. First though, let’s take a look at the good part of this:
Yep, Supes met with Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office at the time. That’s the great part about this issue. But now, here’s where the bothersome part comes around:
What strikes me as very troubling about the panel at the end (could that have been intentional in hopes of that nobody would notice?) is that it features a likely delegate or a reporter from the House of Saud, which is no less despicable than any alien invader that outer space could produce, and the way it’s so, umm, casually featured there, in pure device-y fashion, is really appalling. Whether or not the Saudis, if that’s whom that Muslim in the keffiyeh represents there, are any more dangerous than the next armada of aliens from another planet/dimension, they most certainly aren’t any less of an evil than said aliens are. Or, what exactly makes them any less of a serious matter than those pesky Skrulls, Kree, or Martians that come about trying to put us Earthlings under the yoke?

If anything, I find it very hard to swallow the sight of a Saudi rep praising the Justice League as “our best, our brightest, our only hope” for even them(!), because, if the Justice League took a stand against and , it’s pretty obvious that the Saudis would declare them enemies and condemn them to death by the scimitar sword. In the fictional world, they’d probably even be going about building the worst possible sci-fi weapons in hopes of achieving that particular goal. In reality, Iran’s Ahmedinejad is already doing something similar.

In fairness, I realize that the writers at the time, Hama and even Keith Giffen, probably didn’t intend to insult anyone’s intellect. The UN’s corruption certainly wasn’t as widely understood then as it is today. But even so, when looked upon in today’s standards and understandings, that’s exactly why these clumsy acts of yore cannot be repeated today, and the UN certainly can’t be whitewashed.

Not that there seem to have been any stories lately in which the UN has been featured in a glossed-over manner, but at the same time, there don’t seem to have been any taking them on for the corrupt entity that they are either. Which is a shame, of course, because there are a lot of great story possibilities to be found in focusing on the UN’s true evil image.

The third item is the JLA Annual from 2000, written by Brian J. Vaughan, in which Wonder Woman, one could say, was forced by the writer to commit an act of dhimmitude. No photos available for this one now, but as far as I know, it was a story set in Turkey, co-starring a local heroine(?) called the Janissary. The JLA joins her to go to a local mosque to confront a villain there, and while WW may not have worn a burka or a chador, that she wore even a hooded robe when entering there was, simply put, dhimmitude to the Religion of Peace.

I found this that, naive as it is, tells a little bit about the goings-on, and should actually make for a good item to rebut:

…the Wonder Woman question was looked at in a recent JLA story: JLA Annual 4, which was part of the Planet DC theme and was published in 2000. In that story, the JLA travel to Turkey and meet a local hero, The Janissary. They accompany the Janissary into a local mosque in order to confront the villain. Wonder Woman, however, is delayed as she finds a robe to wear before entering the mosque. Wonder Woman, did not, repeat did not, wear a burkha or a chador. She wore a hooded robe, not unlike Raven’s standard costume. She specifically did this because she “did not wish to disrespect this sacred ground with [her] usual garb.”

Of course, this spectacularly foolish reply to the thread ignores some major issues: why exactly should she be so concerned about “disrespecting” this “sacred ground” or a structure whose followers , more so than even Heracles did before he reformed? Not to mention that if there’s mayhem on the horizon, then it’s ridiculous for Diana to waste time looking for a hooded robe to wear if the villain is going to burst out with violence.

And why exactly would WW want to respect a religion whose book of worship features such quotes as:

“Forbidden to you are … married women, except those whom you own as slaves” ()

And even:

“Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad) and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e. Islam) among people of the Scripture until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued” ()

The infidels the above speaks of would include just about every superhero in the DCU and MCU.

The commentor at the Capt. Comics board went on to say:

I remember there was a bit of a hubbub at the time. A number of fans were upset. They said that WonderWoman was kowtowing to chauvinism, which is something she would never do. I disagreed with that assessment then, and I do now. Wonder Woman is a feminist, yes, but she is also a diplomat and an ambassador. She has been shown on many occasions to be sensitive to the beliefs and cultural preferences of others. And she has also been shown to wear different costumes depending on the occasion, including more formal wear at the UN, informal dress on Paradise Island and full armor such as during Our Worlds At War. Wonder Woman did not wear the burkha or the chador, but neither did she enter the mosque in her bathing suit. She showed herself to be modest and respectful by wearing the robe. It’s like removing your shoes when entering a Japanese Shinto temple. It should be noted that she did not wear the robe outside of the mosque. And if anyone thinks that Brian K. Vaughan (the story’s writer) was striking a blow for chauvinism, it should also be noted that the native hero, the Janissary, is a woman and that she wore pantaloons, not a skirt, dress or chador.

Wrong. She showed herself to be kowtowing to the by wearing even the robe. She was kowtowing to chauvinism, but worst of all, to the RoP. To a religion started by . Something tells me that even Raven, certainly when written well, wouldn’t be so stupid as to do that.

When it comes to attending a church or a synagogue, I can believe WW as deciding to take along a more respectable suit (though if there’s danger around that needs to be stopped, I can’t see anyone there complaining if she didn’t, and they certainly wouldn’t resort to violence the way any invading criminal would). But a structure of worship for the RoP? No way. As a lady who comes from a group of deities who were violated by violent men in ancient times, for WW to show any respect for a movement whose contempt is even worse than Heracles’ would be a complete slap in the face after what her Amazon sisters had been through.

And as for the Janissary wearing a pantaloon outfit, forget it, I’m not taken in by that either. I find it galling that Vaughan would depict WW, of all the superheroines possible, taking up a robe in a case like this, since it’s kowtowing to Muslim extremists. must be laughing his head off even in exile.

My belief is that - WW, certainly when written well, would not kowtow to the beliefs of any religion or ideology that believed in violence, murder, enslavement and submission, and would probably rather commit suicide than take an action that betrays those who look up to her. And she would not be naive in her understanding of any religion or ideology either. This is someone who fought the nazis during WW2, and just like she wouldn’t tolerate fascists like those, she wouldn’t tolerate Islamic fascism either. Brian Vaughan should be ashamed of himself for using Islam as but a superficial plot device, and implying that WW would tolerate the intolerant. As Thomas Mann once said, “tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil.”

The above are some things that, even if they weren’t intentional, should still serve as lessons why there are some things you simply can’t just feature without doing proper research on. And if you can’t depict them honestly, then it’s better not to do it at all. It makes no difference whether the audience is child or adult, nobody should have to have thier intellect insulted by being fed the whole notion of “I’m okay, you’re okay.” Nor should bad entities have to be done any favors. This is what ruins entertainment, because when you depict sinister real life entities poorly, then you’re only doing the audience a disservice. And for movies, television, and even comics to survive, that’s exactly why featuring bad organizations and ideologies in superficial terms is something that simply can’t be done anymore.

tells about Geoff Johns’ inherent problem with violence:

Johns fumbles when dealing with issues of violence. Hal, unable to control the vengeful Spectre spirit, attacks Black Hand and dissolves one of his hands while Green Arrow looks on, piously appalled. Yet GA had just shot an arrow through that same hand himself!

Maybe Johns idea of “old school” has less to do with rejecting modern violence, than it does rejecting deeper characterization. When Hal vows, “No more soul-searching road trips”, it seems Johns isn’t just rejecting semi-recent events, but GL stories dating back decades to the classic “relevant” stories by O’Neil and Adams!

There’s just too much emphasis on sadism, explosions, and sniping characters going all macho on each other for Rebirth to succeed as an involving epic. Still, Johns’ first few issues of the regular Green Lantern comic (starring Hal) were enjoyable, so maybe he’s got a better grip on things in the monthly comic.

Now, if only DC’d bring back Katma Tui, all can be forgiven.

Amen to that. But meanwhile, having made this revelation, I must say that if Johns is disrespecting Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’ run on Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen’s adventures during the early 1970s, I’m really disappointed, because there was what to think about in what they wrote, and he’s going along and putting down their work like that with one of those “self-commentaries”? Way too far, and way too low.

Again, it seems we have a case of supposedly making comments on contemporary problems that are just transparent excuses to wallow in same. And having once discovered that this miniseries may have Green Arrow talking about Identity Crisis in it, that’s one more reason why I feel glad I don’t own it.

Or something like that. I discover , the current one being with Tom Brevoort. But really, what’s the use? It’s apparent that with a “winning” combination like this, there won’t be any real insight or objectivity to be found in here.

about the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s research on a Judeophobic and racist comic book called “Monnara Iunnara”. The North end of Korea may be where this kind of prejudice mainly stems from, but even the South end has problems with racism too. The blogmaster for OFK, who’s familiar with some of the Wiesenthal staff, presents the :

We were shocked to recently learn that a book from your very successful series, Monnara lunnara by Professor Lee Won-Bak is replete with classic hateful and dangerous antisemitic caricatures and themes. For your information I am inclosing a few of the most notorious, for they echo Nazi canards like those found in Der Sturmer and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion by recycling various Jewish conspiracies like Jewish control of the media and money, Jews profiting from war, and even the alleged reason for the 9/11 attacks was that, “Jews use money and the media as weapons in America to do as they want.”

In addition, the author even alleges that the “Final obstacle to success” is a so-called “Wall of the Jews.”

Ms Park, we urge Gimm-Young Publishers to review for itself the slanders in this book that historically have led to antisemitism, violence, hatred and even genocide. We respectfully suggest that you take steps to replace the litany of hate and instead provide young Korean readers with the facts about the Jewish people and our religion and values.

of the panels from the horrific book. I should hope that the publishers will have a respectable response, and that Korean society will have something to think about, and do their best to reshape their values and education so that crap like this can be prevented in the future.

The following blog, , which keeps track of whatever turns up in the book, features from inside the book, and it’s not just the Jewish race that’s been targeted, but even white and black people too. If you’ve got the stomach for the following:
WHITE TRASH?!?!? That’s what they call us? Sick, sick, sick.

This shows that Korea, sadly, may not be all that far removed from what imperial Japan was like a century ago, and that considerable educational reform is needed there too.

, one of the cartoonists who draws the comic strip “They’ll Do It Every Time”, and has been working on it for almost six decades.

Let’s see, , one of the writers of the cartoon-based DC Titans on the Cartoon Network, and also writer of the main Robin title, and now soon to write the main Teen Titans as well. And, first what’s M. Brady saying here:

While Robin definitely gives Beechen the cred to handle at least one teen character, skeptical Titans fans will breathe a sigh of relief knowing that Beechen has handled the team before – writing three episodes of the animated Teen Titans series that ran on Cartoon Network: “Mad Mod,” “Only Human” and “Haunted” – the last being a particularly intense episode pitting Robin against Slade in a battle of wits – and sanity.

Hmm, I thought that was the other way around - that Beechen was supposed to prove himself capable of writing the book well and engagingly. Not so, according to I compiled.

Then, what’s Beechen himself say in response to Brady:

NRAMA: Going back a little - pull the curtain back a touch if you can - you’re a writer who’s got several things gong with DC. How does the offer to write Teen Titans happen? A phone call? An e-mail?

AB: As I remember it, in the late summer of 2006, I got a phone message from Geoff: “Call me when you get a chance.” I left him a return message, then it was a day or two before I heard back from Geoff again, and I was in a blind panic…I thought he’d maybe read one of my Robin plots, and I’d inadvertently ruined the DC Universe or something. But that wasn’t it, and when he finally reached me, it was to tell me he was thinking of leaving Titans, date unknown, and to ask me if I had any interest in taking over for him. I told him I’d be honored to even be in the discussion, and he told me to sit tight, and he’d get back to me. Then, a few weeks later, I got a call from Titans Editor Eddie Berganza, asking me basically the same question. Yes, yes, I’m interested! He, too, told me to sit tight until Geoff’s schedule crystallized and he had something definite to tell me. More time passed. Finally, as I was on my way home for Thanksgiving, I got a flurry of phone calls, from Eddie and Geoff, saying it was on, it was happening, and the offer was a concrete, definite thing. I said yes immediately.

Maybe Beechen didn’t ruin the whole DCU, and maybe he didn’t ruin Robin; that’s actually more Bill Willingham’s fault, but he sure didn’t make it any better with the way he stooped to racial stereotyping in his writing from yesteryear. I guess I can be disappointed in Johns and Berganza for turning to him when he’s otherwise undeserving of the job.

And now, here’s something invovlving Deathstroke that’s puzzled me, since I thought that the following was something that Slade Wilson had come to terms with years ago:

NRAMA: On the other side of the coin, heroes are defined by his enemies, so - why does Slade have such a mad-on for the Titans? It’s been a constant for decades now…

AB: Consider how much of his family life has been entwined with the Titans…He lost his first son, Grant, as a result of combat with the Titans. He “lost” his second son, Joseph, when Joseph chose them over his father. And now he’s lost his third child, Rose, who’s recently become a member of the team. The Titans are more than the one contract he’s never been able to satisfactorily complete — they’re the one set of adversaries who have regularly taken things from him.

I thought he’d accepted that Jericho had chosen good over evil (until he’d gone crazy in 1991, and his own father had to kill him then), and come to think of it, I thought he’d actually accepted that Rose decided to become a reformed Titans member too. certainly tells that, while he may not have reformed, he is better than what he’s being made out to look like now:

Months later, Slade became involved with a Titans’ case involving a dangerous plague. He became active again as Deathstroke, and eventually resumed his mercenary activities, with a stricter code of ethics. Shortly after this, current and former members of the Titans were hunted and captured by the Wildebeest Society. Deathstroke was instrumental in tracking down the captured Titans (with the help of allies Nightwing, Troia, Pantha, Phantasm, Arella and Red Star).

So, what exactly is it that’s led DC to wreck almost two decades worth of development for Slade Wilson, and turn him into an exploiter again: he drugs Cassie Cain into being a criminal. That’s not exactly keeping a firm moral code of ethics. It contradicts the self-searching he did after the death of Terra. Also, it looked to me like he was shocked at how Rose bludgeoned her own eye in the 2nd Teen Titans trade of Johns, so, why should he feel bothered then that Rose returned to sanity and decided to return to the good side again?

We could assume that Slade himself is a pawn, but that’s not saying that Beechen deserves an audience when the time comes to find out.