End of the Elegy

Okay, I'm late. Sorry. TEC came out last week. But I was too busy writing about The Web and lesbian movies, and you know how I get about lesbian movies.

So back to lesbian comic book characters.

(Does anyone who reads this watch House? I'm angry at it right now and considering an entry-long rant.)

I was chatting with my comic book guy (not to be confused with the Comic Book Guy, since mine is not obese or an ass) about TEC when I went in to get this week's pull. He's bummed that JH Williams' awesome art is going to get less pages, but he and I agreed that having the Question have the main story for a bit will be cool. He also convinced me to buy the Shang-Chi title, which was a really good sell, because the art was totally awesome and made up for the dreck that was New Mutants this month. Plus, I don't like Deadpool and I still enjoyed immensely. So there's that.

Anyway, back to the end of the "Elegy" storyline in Detective Comics. I thought it was... fine?

Yeah, I don't know. There's something about Kate Kane that's just not selling me. I really really really really really like Batwoman, but I just don't like Kate Kane. Unless she's being Batwoman-esque.

Looks good in a tux, though.


I thought that image needed to be nice and centered and a bit large. Seriously, seeing a woman in a tux out on a date with a pretty blonde is really neat (especially with Bob Kane's name in the corner, bringing the history into it). If only that woman had skin pigmentation.

Though at least now I sort of get why she doesn't. The cover of the book (which has been well linked/publicized/whatever as an example of J.H. Williams' awesome art) sort of gave me a clue about where we were going with this. Also I watch too many movies, read too many books, and haven't been surprised by a twist ending since Wild Things (but only because I didn't expect a movie like that to be intelligent enough to have a twist ending). Okay, that's not entirely true. Mad Men got me this week.

Anyway, I should have known. The Red Queen and the White Queen are sisters, after all (of course they're also cats, but hey). And I don't care if she's calling herself Alice, she's clearly meant to be the White Queen to Kate's Red Queen. So there we go, sisters. I'm sure I'll feel way more interested in this once we get into her backstory and find out what the deal with her sister is. And hopefully their shared albinism.

I'm looking forward to her meeting Renee, too, because I enjoy their relationship.

But that's the future (erm, past). Overall I was happy with these first four issues that made up the first arc. They didn't blow me away, storywise, but they did artwise, and the story was certainly interesting enough that I didn't get bored.

I've got my quibbles (skin pigmentation, daddy issues, lesbian vampires, and so on) but I think this is one of my favorite titles I'm reading right now. Up there with Power Girl (I hang my head, but it's fun!) and ... actually, I'm mixed on everything else. Supergirl's stuck in a crossover, and I enjoy the Blackest Night stuff, but I couldn't pin down one specific title of those yet. I'm excited to read a Flash title, but I don't like Barry Allen's return, so that detracts from it. Sirens is fun, but some of the stuff really drags on me, and I'm completely out of Streets, except for the Manhunter co-feature. And I'm enjoying Adventure Comics, but we'll see how it goes with a new writer and artist (though yay for their Flash ongoing... as long as it's not Barry) ... and Red Robin is alienating me along with Tim, so we'll see on that, too.

So right now I'm just trying to figure out what it is about Kate Kane that isn't working for me and hoping that her origin story will help with that. At least she can stand upright without the aid of Kryptonian superpowers. Always a bonus. And she's got a sharp wit, which I generally like (hey, she can hold her own with Renee). But... something. I don't know.

But I still like Batwoman. It's funny, because I've never really felt this split between the secret identities and the costumed superheroes in the comics, only in TV and movies. Like my favorite Batman is Michael Keaton but my favorite Bruce Wayne is Christian Bale. Or my favorite Clark Kent is Dean Cain, but my favorite Superman is Brandon Routh (blasphemy, I know, but don't detract from his awesome performance just because the movie was bad).

I feel like I keep saying "we'll see" a lot. I just have to get used to reading ongoings again, instead of trades. I really do have to wait and see. At least I'm feeling a optimistic, right? Right!