White is black, black is white and gets run over at the next zebra crossing

I already mentioned Yesterday the controversies about Perry White being black and Spider - Man being black / latino now. To elaborate a bit more on the point the first one came up when plans were revealed to cast Laurence Fishburne as Perry White in the next Superman movie.


Regarding Spider - Man it´s about the Ultimate Spider - Man not the prime Spider - Man. My brother had the book on his pull list but for unknown reasons he hasn´t gotten an issue in the last 6 months. So I´m not up to date with the whole DEATH OF SPIDER - MAN storyline after ULTIMATUM but as far as I know it´s something like : I´m Spider - Man. Everybody hates me. I´m Spider - Man. Everybody thinks I´m dead. I´m Spider - Man. I´m back and everybody loves me. I´m Spider - Man. I´m really dead this time. I´m the new Spider - Man. I´m black / latino.

Since J. Caleb Mozzocco went to all the trouble of writing a long post about it on his blog EVERY DAY IS LIKE WEDNESDAY I won´t bother you with the same comments. Instead I wanted to mention a few things about the issue and the whole controversy.

First up I´m surprised the whole black and white thing is still an issue. I somehow can understand the problem of casting a black dude as a white dude - especially if the white dude is called Perry White. But I grew up in the seventies in Germany and these were two of the most popular pop singers at that time : Roberto Blanco ( blanco meaning white in spanish )


and Roy Black ( Roy meaning king ).


You may have noticed that Roberto is not really blanco ( except for the suit ) and that Roy is not really black ( again except for his suit ). So ever since that I knew that you can´t make assumption´s about anybody´s skin color based on their names. There´s irony for you.

It´s not that Laurence Fishburn is a bad actor, or that the idea of a black newspaper editor is unheard of in comics ( just ask Robbie Robertson from the Daily Bugle ) it´s just that some people can understand a big person being called " Tiny " or a fat person being called " Slim " but not a black actor playing Perry White.

Another thing is this whole " Oh no, a superhero has been replaced by a member of a minority group " thing. Yeah, like we didn´t have that before with Jaime Reyes as the new Blue Beetle, the new Aqualad, Jason Rush as Firestorm, Miguel O´Hara as Spider - Man 2099, Michael Holt as Mr. Terrific, Steel as one of the Superman stand - ins, James Rhodes as Warmachine or John Stewart as Green Lantern. It´s not unheard of and it´s been done a dozen times before.


Heck, we´re not even talking about the real Spider - Man here.

Which is why I´m not buying into this whole " it´s so important that Spider - Man is now black / latino " hype. Maybe it would be IF this was still the real Spider - Man. IF the real Spider - Man was still the real Spider - Man and not post - Brand New Day Spider - Man.

Is is really that big an issue in this time and age that a major superhero is now black ?

I have read a few articles about how important this is because NOW some readers can finally identify with Spider - Man. Which sounds a bit weird to me. I´ve never had this dependency on the same racial / cultural background / sexual orientation to identify with a character.

I´m not canadian with a self - healing factor, a general bad mood and an addiction to beer. But I have always kind of identified with Wolverine ( rather than with this Loser Gambit ). I´m not a 14 year old girl whose father is the arcane protector of Devil´s Echo who can´t wait to be initiated into the family business. But I could identify with not being good enough in the eyes of your father no matter what you do. And I´m not an american orphan bit by a radioactive spider, a scientist caught in the explosion of my own gamma - bomb who now turns into a greenskinned monster every time his heart races or a norse god living among mortals.


I´ve never been any of those things and still I have always identified with those heroes. There are people out there - especially in marketing - who say that for young readers to identify with a hero the hero has to be the same age as the reader. That for readers to identify with their heroes they have to be from the same race, the same cultural background, the same sexual orientation. Which is absolute BS.

Come on, all you readers out there who were reading Batman as you were a kid ( or those kids out there who are reading Batman now ) with whom did you really identify ? With Batman or with Robin ? I know a lot of people who write articles say that Robin was introduced so that kids could believe it possible to hang with Batman. But who of those kids really played being Robin and who played being Batman ? I know I always wanted to be Batman. Even if he was at least 20 years older than me.

So, back to Spider - Man, one of the main reasons ( at least in my opinion ) why he was so popular was that he could have been anybody under the mask. White, black, chinese, spanish, green, blue, heck - even bavarian. That he embodied the everyday man because he WAS just like the normal guy on the street. It didn´t matter how he REALLY looked beneath the costume.


But maybe the rest of the world doesn´t tick like that.

Since everybody´s so excited about latino Spider - Man here are two clips, the first one the spanish opening for SENSATIONAL SPIDER - MAN and the second one is the first part of LA AMENAZA SUBTERRANO from the 1967 cartoon ( with mexican dubbing from the sound of it ).





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again with the comic news

Man, sometimes it just seems the gods are against me when I´m writing this blog. Especially the gods of the internet since first all pages from Comic Book Resources are constantly reloading and now blogger was out of order for an hour.


So I won´t be able to put all the news I wanted into this post because it´s already later than I originally planned. I know I should start on the post about the GRATIS COMIC TAG comics rather sooner than later but the last few days I tried in vain. Somehow I just couldn´t bring myself to do it - first I was waiting for a comic order and then I just wasn´t in the right mood. The weather is pretty shitty at the moment which is just peachy keen for wine growers but tough nookies for the rest of us. So I decided to post some news I found interesting, comment - worthy or just weird.

30 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE AND COUNTING

I´m not the only one who recently celebrated an anniversary and although it´s not a birthday I just had to post the link to Alan Davis´ panel at the Comic Con International about his three decades in the american comic industry. The just recent recipient of an CCI Inkpot Award in comic art talked about how he began his comic work as part of the british invasion, why he´s happy his CLAN DESTINE is not fully integrated in the Marvel universe and confirmed that he´s doing an upcoming 5 issue storyarc on CAPTAIN AMERICA. Alan Davis has always been one of my favorite artists and it´s still a mystery to me why he hasn´t reached the superstar status at Marvel he so clearly deserves.


If I haven´t already posted it here´s the link for his website

And speaking about Alan Davis and the so - called " british invasion " of american comic books there was a panel at the Comic Con International in San Diego with Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, Dave Gibbons, David Lloyd, John Higgins and Alan Davis.

FOR GRIST´s SAKE

Another happy news bit involving a british comic artist is the new MUDMAN series by Paul Grist. After self - publishing for much of the 90s, Paul Grist brought two critically acclaimed original titles to Image Comics in 2002 : the crime drama KANE and then the eclectic superhero series JACK STAFF. Recently, Grist has been using his sparse, signature style to develop a new superhero that will be introduced to the world this November with the debut of MUDMAN.


" This is my ' Back to Basics ' superhero comic," explained Grist. " It's not about alien menaces or cosmic powers ( though they may pop up once in a while ); it's all about growing up and finding your way in the world, and how the decisions that you make can affect others. In a way, it's probably the most autobiographical comic I've ever done. But with added mud. "

" Paul has been one of my favorite creators since writer Robert Loren Fleming turned me onto KANE back in the 90s, " said Image Comics Publisher Eric Stephenson. " His style looks deceptively simple, but he's a master of his craft, capable of some of the cleverest storytelling in comics. It's a big thrill for me that Paul's part of Image, and I can't wait to see what he does with MUDMAN. "

I still have a bit of catching up to do on JACK STAFF but since THE WEIRD WORLD OF JACK STAFF is already on it´s sixth issue I´ll probably have to wait till the trade comes out. I have to admit I have no idea on the status of the series - if it´s finished, canceled, on hiatus or going strong. Closing the gaps in my KANE collection is a entirely different beast because it probably means I have to get some trades so I will have some material twice. Not that that´s not already the case but I´m still a bit hesitant on the issue.


On the other side since there are not that many single issues available it´s probably my only option to invest some money into the trades and give away the redundant issues for free - once I finally manage to re - read the whole KANE run and do the big megapost on the series.

So in the meantime it´s nice that Paul Grist´s art keeps popping up in the likes of Captain America 616 ( my vote also goes for contributions to the new Dark Horse Presents and Rocketeer Adventures by Mr. Paul Grist ) but with MUDMAN we have a new series we can sink our teeth into.

NO NEED TO FLOG A DARK HORSE

And speaking about the new DARK HORSE PRESENTS so far 2 issues have been out with a third to be released any day now and so far the track record is pretty impressive. Issues 1 and 2 had contributions by Frank Miller, Paul Chadwick, Neal Adams, Harlan Ellison, Howard Chaykin, Richard Corben and Michael T. Gilbert.


While Neal Adam´s BLOOD serial has divided comic fans ( I really like it and can´t wait to see in which direction he goes ) Paul Chadwick´s new CONCRETE short stories are one of the main pulls of the book. He shows that he hasn´t lost his magic touch and how much you can really tell in short 8 page vignettes about everyday life.


Another high point are the pages by Richard Corben and while the story hasn´t wowed me so far the art is something you want to project on a wall to enjoy it during your lunch break.


Add to that interesting, surprising and captivating stories about an out - of - shape contract killer, an ex - cleaner who tries a new life as a bike courier, what may be the weirdest interpretation of Batman yet


and a girl with magic powers ( about which her parents are not too thrilled ) and you have a roller coaster ride of comic stories that hits every part of the emotional spectrum.

With 7.99 bucks it´s in the upper price segment but with such high profile creators and 80 pages ( which is going to be bumped up to a whopping 100 pages for the third issue at the same price ) without ads it´s worth it. Especially when issues 3 and 4 add such great artists like Dave Gibbons and Sergio Aragones to the mix. Here are some previews :

issue 1 / issue 2 / issue 3 / issue 4

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS OUT

While there are many deserving candidates in that category like black Perry White ( say what ? ) and the new black / latino Ultimate Spider - Man ( ditto ) this week´s WHAT THE F - WORD ?!? award goes to the apparent return of Osborn´s Dark Avengers in NEW AVENGERS 18.


DARK AVENGERS was one of my guilty pleasures because while bitching that the sudden jump from issue 1 with 48 pages for 4 bucks to issue 2 at the same price with only 22 pages was too hard to keep the readers hooked - I kept buying it. This book surprised me because it turned out better than I initially gave it credit for. I knew the art would be mindblowing but the writing just pushed the whole " Suicide Squad done right " concept of the series into new levels of excellence.

Especially the way Osborn turned mentally imbalanced Superman - analogue The Sentry into putty was just incredible. The book had a definite ending and if it´s now back thanks to the original creative team of Bendis and Deodato it´s worth a look even if it´s only half as good as it´s previous incarnation. And even if we have to deal with Skaar and Hawkeye as new team members from the look of the preview image.

IT´S HARD OUT HERE FOR A PIMP

And keeping with the weird Brian Cronin´s newest installment of I LOVE YOU BUT YOU´RE STRANGE brings us the unforgettable tale of how Luke Cage went to Latveria because Dr. Doom tried to skive him out of 200 bucks he owed him in which Luke uttered the immortal words : " Where´s my money, honey ? "


Now this is not the only time Victor the Terrible tries to walk without paying as he did the same thing in an issue of DAMAGE CONTROL. It seems those monarchs and heads of state are all to busy to bother with such mundane things like paying their bills. You know that Dr. Doom never did an honest day´s work by the way he´s surprised Luke Cage went to all that trouble just for 200 bucks. I bet there are some people who would wrestle with Dr. Doom for that sum.

I also wonder if Luke Cage using the words : " Where´s my money, honey ? " is a not - so subtle hint that he may have also worked as a pimp. Be that as it may this storyline alone is reason enough to get your hands on THE ESSENTIAL LUKE CAGE. Yep, Doomsey it´s payback time and you will find out how Luke Gage plays it, witch !


And with that we end Today´s post though I hope to continue Tomorrow for all who want to know what´s up with black Perry White. As we had kind of a british flavor to the post the video is from one of my favorite BBC tv series.


The second part of DOCTOR WHO´s current season starts on the 27th of this month and here´s the trailer.



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Two for the price of one

Yes, that´s right Today I´m doing two posts. That´s the good news. This one isn´t about GRATIS COMIC TAG 2011 either. That´s the bad news.


And it´s not really about comics either. But it´s the one I initially wanted to write before I realized that Today is Betty Brosmer´s birthday. Now that one may not have been comic related at first sight but I´m sure that, being the most famous pin up girl of the 50s, Betty inspired a lot of comic artists from that time. I mean, doesn´t this cover of her remind you of some of the girls Frank Frazetta or Dave Stevens draw ?


You will have to wait a bit longer to get some free comics like I will have to wait till I can get my hands on some comics from FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2011. As I have already mentioned the comicshop where I have my subscription has moved and it seems that they haven´t unpacked the box with the FREE COMIC BOOK DAY comics. All the ones I have so far I got from an onlineshop and at the moment I´m waiting on an order that will - hopefully - contain a few more. But that´s the topic for a future post anyway.

So, this post is mostly for my german readers to announce 2 things. The first one is about ZETTGEIST the podcast from german indy publishers ZWERCHFELL VERLAG about movies, books, games, tv shows, food, zombies ( a whole lot of zombies ! ) - and every 50 shows about comics.


Which was one of the main reasons that I didn´t listen to it on a regular basis since they were very often talking about movies ( mainly zombie movies ) that I haven´t seen since I don´t go to the movies that often anymore. The last two movies I have seen in a theather were THOR and GREEN LANTERN and while both movies weren´t as bad as I feared the whole moviegoing experience hasn´t spiked the urge to go to the cinema more often in the future.

As somebody who has to be very selective which movies I watch in the cinema because of my tight budget I find it strange what reasosn other people seem to have for going to the movies. The least of all seems to be to watch a movie, some don´t understand the whole concept of movies having their own sound and thus not needing comments from the audience and for some it seems the perfect place to be rude to people hoping to start some fights.


No wonder audiences are shrinking in Germany and they will continue to shrink unless the owner of the movie theaters do something about it. Because with today´s technologies nobody really NEEDS to watch a movie in the theater. But back to Zettgeist.

Starting with Zettgeist 152 it´s not longer going to be an audio podcast but a live video podcast. The first new episode shows our three main contributors Naomi Fern, Stefan Dinter and Sasha Thau at their workplace talking about stuff. The video quality is not HD but I don´t think that is the ultimate goal. Since lately too much time has gone in editing the audio podcasts this is a try to make the shows more uncut and unfiltered.

You can watch the video via livestream or vimeo and I´m excited to see how this all unfolds.


The other thing is AUFGEZEICHNET TV a new show about comics hosted by Flix that you can watch on their own website or on their youtube channel . Due to the usual restrictions the first episode ( which is all about the Comicfest München ) had to be cut into 9 parts but the shows done very professional. Now that A COMICBOOK ORANGE seems to be on a creative hiatus comic readers need a new comic video show and it looks like AUFGEZEICHNET TV is up to a good start.


The next episode is announced for September the 15th and topics are the AnimagiC 2011 and the Apokalypse in comics and mangas.

Looks like there are going to be more much needed shows to watch for german comicfans.

And speaking about watching shows about comics today there was a show called GESAMMELTES WISSEN : COMICS on ANIXE that is going to be rerun at 00.10 hours. Since it´s one in a series of shows about various hobbies involving collectible things the main focus is on the collector side of things but any comic reader is - in some way or another - a kind of comic collector so there may be some good tips for you. And for all non comic readers ( we really need a better word for comic muggels ) it might be interesting to see how the normal half lives.

So, that´s it for today, short and sweet. I hope my non german speaking readers haven´t been bored too much and for my german readers : you have enough to do right now. No clip at the end of this post as I have already embedded two of them.


Next time : more comics, probably some 70s Marvel references or even - dare I say it - the first part of the GRATIS COMIC TAG comics.

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This is how I died, and now it´s all happening again thanks to a temper tantrum by the Young Avengers.

Popculture sirens - Betty of two worlds

Once again this is not the post I expected to do next but it´s time for another tribute to one of pop cultures most famous cult sirens. After our last post about Wonder Woman Lynda Carter today famous pin up model Betty Brosmer celebrates her 75th anniversary who was once described as a combination of Jessica Rabbit and Traci Lords.


Betty Brosmer will go down in pin up history for many reasons, the most notable of them being her very pronounced hourglass figure.


During her heyday in the 1950's, her measurements were somewhere around 38 - 18 - 36.


Brosmer was the epitome of the Californian girl, with that girl - next - door look not unlike Marilyn Monroe.


But whereas Monroe's and other glamour model's careers focused on the movies, Brosmer stayed with modeling, both commercial and pin up. Betty's classic beauty put her on over 300 magazine covers, which covered everything from movie mags, gossip papers, pulp magazines, funny mags and books.


She was in thousands of magazine spreads. Her face appeared on full - page ads in Life, Time, Fortune, Look, Saturday Evening Post and other leading magazines of her day.


She won over 50 beauty contests before the age of 20.


Betty, the ultimate Calendar Girl, appeared on hundreds of calendars, she was on numerous music album covers, on billboards in Times Square and billboards across the country and on life - size cutouts in retail stores selling Kodak film, Thom McAn shoes and other products.


Every time you see a green tree hanging in an auto windshield, think of Betty. It was her effervescent smile on display cards that started that trend and made these tree air fresheners famous throughout the world. They are still sold today.


Betty was the first model to receive residuals every time her picture was published.


She was one of the first models to own the rights to many of her negatives and photos.


She was the highest paid model of that time period.


Betty was the first true Super Model and a personification of what the word " glamour " really means : beauty, allure, charm, elegance, magnetism, desirability and charisma.


These words have all been used in publications describing Betty, including awesome, engaging, captivating, irresistible, dazzling, radiant, exquisite, enchanting, stunning, fabulous and sensational.


It could not have been said any better than by Steve Sullivan, foremost author of several books specializing in the Great Glamour Girls of the 20th Century. In one of his books he wrote about Betty : "...there will never be another glamour girl like Betty Brosmer.


Her classically sunny, all - American blonde beauty was a worthy counterpart to that of Marilyn Monroe.


Her magnificently contoured - beyond - perfection figure was without equal.


Further, there was a glow, an incandescence about Betty that was not to be found in any other model.


And the total package was so utterly winning that Betty -- without every revealing much more epidermis than one would be likely to see at the beach --


was the definitive super model of the 1950's."

At one point in the 50's she she turned down Playboy because of her rule of never doing anything more than just chaste cheesecake shots.


In the 1960's, she stopped her pin up career when she married publisher of fitness magazines Joe Weider. Since then, she has been a regular model and writer for his publications and a role model for good health and fitness in later age.


What is kind of ironic is the fact that Joe Weider prohibited female contestants for fitness competitions to do nude photoshoots while being married to a former pulp magazine model. Of course he changed his mind on this matter when he realized that it would help promote female bodybuilding as something sexy and attractive.

There is really not much to find about Betty on wikipedia so here are the pages I used for research on this post ( I´m not THAT old, thank you very much ) where you can find more pictures :

betty brosmer number 1 on the ultimate hourglass figure list

betty brosmer on javas bachelor pad

betty brosmer fansite english / german / spanish

tribute to betty brosmer / betty weider homepage

Today´s video has to be - of course - of Betty Brosmer just for those who think all the pictures were altered. This is the real deal, baby.



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I was born with the power to move mountains. Literally. My connection to the earth was like breathing. And I´ve been holding my breath for a very long time.