Cup O’ Joe: Political Controversy & The Heroic Age – Comic Book Resources

The picture in the comic was taken from a REAL SIGN at Tea Party rally!!

Classic!

Cup O’ Joe: Political Controversy & The Heroic Age – Comic Book Resources

The book was getting ready to go to the printer, it was on fire already from a deadline standpoint, but the editor on the book noticed that there was a small art correct that needed to get done. On the first page featuring the protestors, the artist on the book drew slogans into the protest signs to give them a sense of reality and to set up the scene. On the following page featuring the protestors again, there were signs, but nothing written in them. From a continuity standpoint, this omission stood out like a sore thumb, but was easily fixable. So, just before the book went to the printer, the editor asked the letterer on the book to just fudge in some quick signs. The letterer in his rush to get the book out of the door but wanting to keep the signs believable, looked on the net and started pulling slogans from actual signs. That’s when he came upon this one.

Art Imitates Life..

FOXNews.com – Tea Party Jab to Be Zapped From Captain America Comic, Writer Says

I hate to give Fox News any press, but I had to comment about this.

First I was shocked that those Tea Party people can actually read, let alone read comics.  Someone had to point it out to them i bet.  Second, I have something to say to the Tea Party group.  Grow up and get the fuck over yourselves!  If something as little as this hits a nerve, maybe you should take a long hard look at what you are doing and how you are doing it.

To Marvel: SHAME on you for falling under this kind of pressure from a bunch of lunatics.  Do you think these people are really going to hurt your bottom line?  Or did the Mouse force you to do it?

FOXNews.com – Tea Party Jab to Be Zapped From Captain America Comic, Writer Says

Tea Party Jab to Be Zapped From Captain America Comic, Writer Says

By Joshua Rhett Miller

– FOXNews.com

A “tea bag” reference in a recent Captain America comic book that has angered the Tea Party movement will be removed by Marvel Comics in future editions, the story’s writer told FoxNews.com.

Writer Ed Brubaker told FoxNews.com that Marvel Comics will remove a “tea bag” reference from future editions of Captain America No. 602.

A “tea bag” reference in a recent Captain America comic book that has angered the Tea Party movement will be removed by Marvel Comics in future editions, the story’s writer told FoxNews.com.

In issue No. 602 of Captain America, “Two Americas, Part One,” the title hero and The Falcon, a black superhero from New York City, stumble upon a protest rally in Boise, Idaho. They see scores of protesters carrying signs that say “Stop the Socialists!” and “Tea Bag The Libs Before They Tea Bag YOU!”

Captain America says the protest appears to be an “anti-tax thing,” and The Falcon jokes that he likely would not be welcomed into the crowd of “angry white folks.”

Ed Brubaker, who wrote the story, told FoxNews.com he did not write the “Tea Bag The Libs Before They Tea Bag YOU!” sign shown in the edition, insisting that the words were added by someone in “lettering or production” just before being shipped to the printer. It will be changed in subsequent editions, he said.

“I don’t know who did it, probably someone who thought it was funny,” Brubaker wrote in an e-mail. “I didn’t think so, personally. That’s the sign being changed to something more generic for the trade reprint, because I and my editor were both shocked to see it.”

But the change may come too late to placate a chorus of critics who noticed the apparent jab at the Tea Party movement and who accused Marvel of making supervillains out of patriotic Americans.

Michael Johns, a board member of the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, said he felt the “juvenile” dig will ultimately do more damage to Marvel’s brand than to the Tea Party movement. He also disputed the insinuation that the growing movement lacks diversity.

“The Tea Party movement has been very reflective of broad concerns of all Americans,” Johns said. “Membership is across ethnic, religious and even political lines.”

Johns accused Brubaker of “blame-shifting” and questioned why an apology or retraction hadn’t been issued as soon as the writer or Marvel executives noticed the politically charged signs.

Brubaker, meanwhile, has made no secret of his political leanings.

He said he wrote the script “four or five” months ago, which was shortly before he posted critical messages on his Twitter account regarding former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former President George W. Bush.

“Memo to Bachman and the rest of the tea crowd — We had a revolution already, it’s called an election,” Brubaker tweeted on Nov. 5.

Nine days later, he wrote: “What did we learn this week? That Sarah Palin is a lying idiot. Hey, welcome to 2008 again.”

But Brubaker was adamant that he did not intend to imply that the group of protesters in the comic book were Tea Partiers.

“I was simply using them to show the mood in the country in various places outside Captain America and the Falcon’s usual home, New York City,” he wrote. “It’s very similar to other things we’ve done in the comic, showing leftwing protest crowds back during the election season in 2008.”

A spokeswoman for Marvel Comics did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Herb London, president of the Hudson Institute, a think tank based in Washington, said the protest scene in the comic book is merely the latest attempt in a “systematic effort” to chastise the grassroots Tea Party movement.

“I was perplexed by this,” London said. “It seems to me there was a clear effort on someone’s part to undermine the Tea Party movement.”

London said the comic strip insinuates the protesters are “loonies,” and he questioned The Falcon’s reference to race.

“It involves sensitivities,” London said. “There’s no reason for something like that to be included.”

Yet Another First Gay Superhero | Bleeding Cool Comic News & Rumors

Yet Another First Gay Superhero | Bleeding Cool Comic News & Rumors

Yet Another First Gay Superhero
Submitted by Rich Johnston on November 18, 2009 – 5:48 am (22) comments

KrazyJanuary 1992

Chicago Sun-Times: The comic book, long a purveyor of childhood fantasies, has taken a step closer to the adult world as one prominent “superhero” acknowledges he is gay.

The superhero is Northstar, billed in Marvel Comics’ “Alpha Flight” as “Canada’s Most Eligible Bachelor,” and he comes out of the closet in the current issue to help fight AIDS.

“I am gay!” Northstar shouts…

February 2000

The Mirror: TWO Scottish cartoonists have created the worlds first homosexual superheroes. Apollo and Midnighter, a pair of lycra-clad gay…

December 2002

The Independent:
Coming (out) soon: the world’s first gay superhero. The Rawhide Kid, killed off by Marvel Comics in 1979, is back from the dead. And how.

January 2009

Daily Telegraph: It was only a matter of time before we had our first gay superhero. And if there is one man who can make him a success it is Stan Lee…

February 2009

Daily Telegraph: DC Comics have unveiled their first openly gay superhero – a sapphic socialite called Batwoman…

November 2009

The Sun: World’s first gay superheroes…

For the record, for the clip files, for lazy journalists (and will amend for the bits I get wrong or miss out)…

The first closet gay comic strip character was Krazy Kat in 1916, the first transvestite hero comics character was Madame Fatal in 1940, the first out gay hero comics character was Harry Chess in That Man From A.U.N.T.I.E in 1964, the first lesbian comics character was Sandy, Wimmen’s Comix 1971.

The first openly gay superhero was Gay Guy, created by John Byrne, for Candian college newspaper strip The Emery Weal, 1971.

The first mainstream gay superhero character was Northstar of Alpha Flight – who first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #120 in 1979, but creator John Byrne decided he is gay for Alpha Flight #1. 1983. The character Northstar outs himself in an Alpha Flight story written by Scott Lobdell in 1992.

The first gay superhero with his own book was Enigma by Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo, initially polanned for Disney/Touchmark but picked up by Vertigo in 1993.

The first superhero team in comics was Joan Hilty’s Luna Legion appearing in Oh! magazine in 1992, and Pride High was the first gay superhero team comic book, published in 2007.

The first gay superhero couple was Apollo and Midnighter, first appearing naked in bed together in Stormwatch by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch, in 1998, adding in comments later when the characters appeared in their The Authority comic.

Yes, Apollo and Midnighter are, in the debased English parlance, up each other. So what?

but they would only be properly publically outed by Mark Millar in The Authority in 1992. At the end of his run on the book, they were married on the page by Ellen DeGeneres. Midnighter wore white.

And there is no news as to whether the owners of the Spandex TM trademark will seek to defend it, after the considerable publicity given the current title!

Review: The Lone Ranger and Tonto #3 (Dynamite Entertainment)

I have been a big fan of the Lone Ranger series by Dynamite Entertainment since it started, but I have to say that The Lone Ranger and Tonto #3 is the worst issue of any comic I have read in a long time.

I know this isn’t part of the Lone Ranger series proper, but considering the sporadic nature that the regular series comes out, this may be the first issue that someone picks up to read Dynamite’s Lone Ranger effort.   I think this particular comic might actually scare people away.

My first problem is with the art (which I always hate to comment on, since I can’t draw worth a damn).  It is very rough, more like colored sketches than actual art to me.  There are parts that are so rough that it’s difficult to tell who the characters are and what is happening from moment to moment.

As far as the story goes, it really didn’t make much sense to me.  I am not entirely sure if it was because of the art, but the entire plot seemed forced and really kind of silly.

Overall I was really disappointed in this issue.  If the Lone Ranger and Tonto series is supposed to help bridge the gap in-between the time that the regular series comes out, they are really going to have to do a much better job than this.

George Tuska, R.I.P. | BobGreenberger.com

George Tuska, R.I.P. | BobGreenberger.com

George Tuska, R.I.P.

Posted by Bob Greenberger on October 16, 2009

Tony Isabella is reporting that long-time comics artist George Tuska has passed away yesterday at age 93.

Another piece of my childhood has vanished. I first encountered George’s work when he replaced Gene Colan as artist on Iron Man and then stayed with the book for years. A versatile artist with a distinct style, you knew you were looking at a page of his work. His real people looked like real people and his action sequences moved with power. While never a graceful artist, he was a natural one, adept at the demands of the story regardless of genre.

It was many years later before I learned George really made his name on the crime comics of the late 1940s, including Crimes does not Pay. He vanished from comics for most of the 1950s and early 1960s, working in comic strips, notably Scorchy Smith and then taking over Buck Rogers until it folded, which led him to Marvel.

George drifted to DC in the late 1970s and did the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes comic strip in addition to runs on World’s Finest Comics, Challengers of the Unknown and various other DC properties until changing tastes reduced demand for his work and he retired to New Jersey, producing commissions and making occasional appearances.

I never got to know George, mostly because he rarely traveled into New York. By the time I was at DC, George had lost most of his hearing. When I wanted to commission Who’s Who pages, I dealt with his pleasant wife, Dot, who would accept on his behalf. The work always came in on time and was exactly what was request – a true pro.

Most recently, I read his introduction to the latest Marvel Masterwork Iron Man volume and wished he spoke a bit more about what it was like back then. Now we’ll never know.

Shopping ‘Southland’ | Company Town | Los Angeles Times

This is a travesty

Shopping ‘Southland’ | Company Town | Los Angeles Times

Shopping ‘Southland’
October 9, 2009 | 2:36 pm

So the folks behind the recently canceled “Southland” are working the phones today, hitting up every cable network they can think of that might be interested in the cop drama.

First on everyone’s list for taking the departed NBC drama is TNT. For starters, “Southland” is produced by Warner Bros., which like TNT is owned by Time Warner, so there is a family connection. Second, while “The Closer” is still going gangbusters for TNT, the network recently lost “Saving Grace,” and its other dramas, including “Dark Blue,” have not been setting the world on fire.

SOUTHLAND While “Southland” certainly would be a good fit on TNT, it remains to be seen if the network would want to buy someone else’s castoff. With six episodes of “Southland” already in the can, TNT may be able to negotiate a decent price, and since Warner Bros. will already be getting paid for those shows by NBC, it might be willing to cut a slight break on the license fee. Then, if the show were a success for TNT, it could ask for more money. NBC was paying about $1.5 million per episode for the show, people close to the production say. That is not a huge fee for a cash cow like TNT.

Another likely network would be A&E. However, we’re told A&E has already passed. And A&E is partially owned by NBC, so that might have been a problem politically even if it did want it. USA Network is totally owned by NBC and “Southland” is much too dark for them, so that’s out.

That brings us to AMC, home of “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad.” They like to spend money there, but everyone thinks they are the new HBO, so they might not want to sully their image with a show from a (cough) broadcast network.

FX already has a ton of programming, and while “Southland” may be gritty (there’s that word again) for NBC, it’s “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood” for FX.

People will say it should go on HBO or Showtime, but it’s not nearly quirky enough.

So unless Food Network or The Weather Channel (whoops, that’s NBC again) want to go in a completely different direction, the only real candidate out there may be TNT.

Let’s see if blood is thicker than money.

– Joe Flint

Comcast to monitor and inform subscribers when their PC is infected – Tech Products & Geek News | Geek.com

This can’t be a good thing…

Comcast to monitor and inform subscribers when their PC is infected – Tech Products & Geek News | Geek.com

Comcast to monitor and inform subscribers when their PC is infected
Oct. 9, 2009 (9:01 am) By: Matthew Humphries

Comcast alert

One of the biggest problems with an infected PC is that unless the user of that PC notices or realizes their machine is infected there is little that can be done about it. The emphasis is on the user to secure and monitor their own machine and therefore malware writers go to great lengths to ensure their infections remain silent and unnoticeable.

Comcast has decided it is going to take action and aid its subscribers by informing them if a machine is suspected of being compromised. It will do this by regularly monitoring the network activities of individual connections looking for the common signs of a machine being used as part of a botnet, for example. If such a machine is identified then a warning will be sent to that user as a service notice stating the following:

Comcast has detected that there may be a virus on your computer(s). For more information on how to clean your computer(s), please visit the Comcast Anti-Virus Center.

A security center link then takes that user to a page where they can find tools to clean up their machine. The message, as seen in the image above, is displayed on the Comcast website and a follow-up e-mail is sent, but other than that the company will not be contacting the user directly, so this warning can be ignored. No further action will be taken if the user doesn’t do anything, as this is just meant to be a helpful hint rather than the start of a process to get them running virus free.

Comcast has made it clear that the monitoring involved will remain anonymous with no data stored or looked at during the process. In order to determine what classes as a potential infection Comcast will employ independent help such as known infected IP lists from the likes of Spamhaus as well as its own analysis system. At worst a user may get to see one of these messages as a false positive. At best users who had no idea they were infected take action and clean up their machine.

Read more at DSLReports.com and a detailed description of the monitoring posted by Comcast on the DSLReports.com forums

Matthew’s Opinion

Malware writers are very good at covering their tracks and can make an infected PC act as normal while in the background it works as part of a botnet helping to spread spam. Most users wouldn’t even know their machine has been compromised and unless they run security checks how will they ever know? Some malware even blocks users going to security sites in an attempt to stop the compromise ever being found.

With that in mind this monitoring by Comcast should be welcomed. It is an anonymous check that just looks for the common signs of an infection and then its an unintrusive warning with no further intervention. You can’t get much more hands-off while still being helpful and it’s an important action to take. Spam levels are so high because there are so many machines out there on botnets pumping the stuff out to inboxes. Unless those PCs are cleaned up the spam will continue to flow and unless users know their machines are infected this will never change.

I’d argue Comcast should go further than just the message on a website and an e-mail. Why not phone up that subscriber and inform them that they may have an infected machine. Nine times out of ten I bet the response is one of “what do I do?” at which point they can be helped. A message or e-mail on the other hand may get overlooked or looked at with suspicion as a possible scam.

What do you think? Is Comcast’s idea one that should be copied across all ISPs? Should it go further than just a warning message on a website?

The Geoff And Grant Show – How DC May Look Next Year | Bleeding Cool Comic News & Rumors

Holy shit, this should be interesting

The Geoff And Grant Show – How DC May Look Next Year | Bleeding Cool Comic News & Rumors

The Geoff And Grant Show – How DC May Look Next Year
Submitted by Rich Johnston on October 6, 2009 – 10:00 am (19) comments

zaphodThose Long Beach Comic Con freelancers are a gossipy lot. Away from their corporate masters, giddy with a mix of fear and excitement over the coming changes at Marvel and DC, they tend to talk, gossip, exaggerate and compare notes. And then email me.

So, with the best will in the world, and a modicum of fact checking that dropped out a few stray ends, here’s what I’ve been hearing about certain DC plans next year.

Well Geoff Johns announced that he and Francis Manapul will be on Flash, I understand that Johns will stay on Green Lantern that he will head up a new core Justice League Of America title to be announced shortly. So while Geoff keeps control over the League and two of its members, friend and colleague Grant Morrison will be keeping the others in check, continuing a monthly Batman book but also adding a Superman and Wonder Woman book to the mix, for the full Trinity set.

With Geoff and Grant at the centre of the DC Universe, expect trusted writers like Pete Tomasi (coming off The Outsiders, replaced by Dan DiDio) to take on the secondary characters, keeping the central thrust of the DC Universe consistent and coherent. No more problems with repeated New God deaths… just the Geoff and Grant show, writ large.

If true, it’s a bold new creator-driven approach from DC, learning from Final Crisis and building on Blackest Night, reminiscent of moves made by Marvel in the past to great success.

And the message is this. Look out Marvel… after all, you did quite well out of putting an American and a Scot in creative lead positions.

DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » Breaking: Dan DiDio and Philip Tan the new creative team on OUTSIDERS

I totally missed this news.  That will be the end of the book for me.

DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » Breaking: Dan DiDio and Philip Tan the new creative team on OUTSIDERS

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

By Austin

Announced today at the Long Beach Comic Con, DC’s Executive Editor Dan DiDio will be taking over the reigns of The Outsiders with star artist Philip Tan on pencils.

Here are a few words from Dan himself:

“This is an exciting time for me both personally and professionally. I have been a fan of The Outsiders since their inception and with Pete Tomasi moving on to some very exciting projects in 2010, I have been afforded the opportunity to work with some of my favorite characters. Most importantly, this also gives me the chance to work with the immensely talented Philip Tan, and together I hope we can meet and exceed all expectations for this series.”

And what does Philip Tan have to say?

“I have orders from Dan to hunt down and skewer anyone who buys comics and doesn’t pick this up in January.

Seriously though, I can’t be more excited! Batman and the Outsiders is actually the first DC book I ever bought (and got stolen)! It will be a challenge to pick it up after Peter and Fernando’s run and continue to entertain, but Dan and I are extremely confident that we will be able to create some very exciting visual stories! There are tons of ideas that we want to play with! It is not only a huge honor for me to work on Dan’s first monthly book, but I’m also insanely giddy about being able to be creatively involved on a whole new level with this project, a level that I have never experienced!”

Check out the inks for the cover below, and check back here later this month to see it in color.

outsiders-26cover02

The Quick and the Read #10 – Random stuff

The Quick and the Read #10 – Random stuff

It has been a looooong time since I have done one of these, and I am going to do my best to try to do more.  I have stacks of comics I have read around the Fortress of Mozitude that I haven’t added to ComicBase and filed away for this very purpose

The only thing left to do is dive on in.

Buck Rogers #1 (Dynamite Entertainment) – I am not really sure what I expected to find reading this comic, but I didn’t find it.  I was a big fan of the Buck Rogers TV show from the late 70s\early 80s, so maybe subconsciously that was looking for here.  Now don’t get me wrong, this was a pretty good comic and I have seen A LOT worse, but this just didn’t “click” with me, so this is the last issue I am getting.

The Mighty #5 (DC Comics) – I got really tired of superhero deconstruction stories after a while, with everyone trying to recapture the popularity of Watchmen since it was first published back in the ‘80’s.  There has only been a handful worth reading over the years, like Kingdom Come and Powers just to name a few.  When this title was announced, I would have probably never touched it if Peter Tomasi hadn’t been writing it.  I have developed a great respect for his writing after what he did with Nightwing and the Green Lantern Corp books, so I just had to pick this up when it first come out.  Without spoiling anything, this issue probably really got me hooked on the series.  Peter Tomasi can really grab you with his writing, and Keith Champagne is no slouch.  If you are not reading this already, you should give the first trade a try.

Project Superpowers: Chapter Two #0 (Dynamite Entertainment) – I was intrigued by the first series (and I admit that most of that was because of Alex Ross being attached), it really has been interesting to see all of these forgotten heroes from the Golden Age and seeing what is done with them.  I didn’t read the mini-series that came out in-between the first series and this one, so I have kind of lost interest, but I thought I would give this a try.  This is still interesting as more and more heroes and villains come out of the woodwork, but it’s just not enough for me to keep buying it.  I doubt I would even get trades at this point, the “new comic smell” has worn off completely.

The Lone Ranger #17 (Dynamite Entertainment) – Now here is the one bright spot in this review, for the most part anyway.  I really enjoy this comic, and look forward to when it comes out, however sporadically.  I grew up watching Lone Ranger re-runs with my Dad (who actually met Clayton Moore when he was a kid), and have always loved the character.  When this title came out, I made sure that I get a copy for him too; and he really enjoys reading it.  Once again this was a great issue, and it was a joy to read.  I have a big problem with how often this comes out however.  I feel that this is the title that put Dynamite “on the map” so to speak, and they should really make an effort to put this out monthly on a consistent basis.  I have read comments from the creative team, and how they like to get an entire story arc “in the can” before they solicit it.  I can understand that, but you would think that after a while they would get caught up and have enough issues together to keep this monthly.  Maybe they should just go ahead and call this bi-monthly or quarterly and get it over with.

Well that’s it for this installment, until next time, keep them bagged and boarded!

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