Web and Hangman reviews. Also some more rambling.

Yeah, I bought this just because Angela Robinson wrote it (see my entry from earlier today). Good thing, too, because the art wasn't supertastic. Or even something I liked. I didn't hate it, but it was sort of meh. Also this character looks like a cross between Marvel's Banshee and Spider-Man. Seriously, his costume, not so much guys.

This is obviously a reboot (who decided to reboot this particular character?) and is fine as a first issue. I've never read anything Angela Robinson has written, only seen it translated to moving pictures, and heard the dialogue spoken on my TV screen, but I was okay with this. We'll see where it goes. I'm not interested enough in the character to be immediately engaged, but I'll stick with it because I like the writer and the mystery that's being set up.

I also dig the dual meaning of the web. Is that why they decided to bring this guy back? Considering that over in Batman and Robin, the new (?) Red Hood is using the internet to broadcast his crimes, I have to wonder if anyone's going to care about this guy doing it.

I care, though. It's interesting. I want this guy to use the internet as one of his gadgets. Like a Batman that uses Twitter.

Do we even call the internet the web anymore? There are people alive who probably don't know what the www stands for, right? It's just been there their whole lives, starting most of the internet addresses they surf to.

Do we surf anymore?

Anyway. Browsing, surfing, web, internet (I started out using a dump terminal at my dad's, messing around in GOPHER and checking my email on PINE, and roleplaying on a BBS called AfterFive, even though I was way too young to be doing that, and an old 9.6kbps modem to dial onto AOL 2.4 at my mom's, and I'm not even an early adopter), whatever. I think I'm talking about comics.

I'll stick with The Web (har har, stick!) for now and see where he goes. It's definitely better than some of the stuff out there. But, as with Streets of Gotham, I enjoy the backup feature more. The Hangman's sort of interesting! And brutal. And I enjoy the art waaaaaay more than I enjoy the art on the main feature. Too bad Angela Robinson's not writing that one.

The DCU blog refers to it as "urban noir," which would make it perfect for her (seriously, go check out GirlTrash!) and it's definitely got a heavier feel to it than most superhero comics. Well, except Batman I guess. But even Batman... I know Batman's not going to kill anyone (hell, Colonel Kane even called it the "Batman rule" when telling Kate not to kill Alice this week - and don't get me started on Detective Comics, because that's getting a post of its own). Maybe Red Robin will, but not while he's Tim. I just don't see them crossing that line.

Yeah, that line. It's bad to kill people, right? We don't do it, especially not if we're heroes.

Eh. Sometimes you've just got to put a bullet into the Joker's brain, because there's really just no such thing as rehabilitation for him. We're not talking about the real world, where things aren't black and white, we're talking about THE MOTHER EFFING JOKER. Shoot that dude. Seriously. It doesn't make Batman more interesting that he won't kill the Joker, it makes him A VERY BAD CRIME FIGHTER.

Ahem.

Nobody really has bad guys like Batman has bad guys (I just started playing through Batman: Arkham Asylum, and am sadly underwhelmed thus far), and some of those bad guys should probably NOT BE ALIVE ANYMORE. I'll give the guy a pass for most of them, I guess. But the Joker? Come the hell on, dude.

Also, even cops kills people sometimes. It doesn't necessarily make them bad cops (not that there aren't bad cops), it just means that sometimes, unfortunately, they have to kill people to do their job. And those are people people not THE JOKER.

This is why I don't like Batman. This is why it's hard for me to get behind Batman titles, and why it takes a little something extra for me to enjoy it. The guy probably wouldn't even kill a zombie Joker. I mean. Really. Lady up, dude. (See what I did there?)

Uh, I think I was talking about something else.

The funny thing about this is that I'm really against the death penalty and lethal force used by police officers and all that jazz, but if the Joker existed in real life and was really the Joker? I don't know, man. If it were my job to protect the world from him I think I would... protect the world from him. Would that make me a criminal, too?

Supergirl killed someone. The Flash did. Lots of superheroes do. The deal is that they don't want to, and sometimes it's an accident and sometimes it's out of anger and it's always to protect people and they always regret it. So, no, they're not villains.

And Batman's still a tool.

But the Hangman is sort of cool. So far.

Lesbians write comics? Black lesbians? WHAT?

So I was reading my handy-dandy email newsletter from NEC about the new releases this week. Now, NEC is my "neighborhood" shop and I appreciate them for their ability to Not Suck, despite mostly employing white dudes. Every week they send out the new releases to people on the email list, including their top picks.

This week, along with a bunch of Marvel stuff I wasn't interested in (Emma Frost finally comes clean? For what?) one Marvel thing I'm curious about (Spider-Woman), and a very thin list of my usual DC titles, was a top pick that I was totally surprised by (since I clearly do not keep up on solicits, thankyouverymuch).

Who the Hell is the Web? I have no idea. Who is the Hangman? Also no idea. But I know who Angela Robinson is. Oh yes.

Angela Robinson gave us Jordana Brewster doing a hilarious music montage to an Erasure song. That's right. An Erasure song. Jordana Brewster. Is there a better montage in the last decade of movies? No. There is not, my friends. D.E.B.S. is a satirical spy movie about a group of young college-age women that are superspies, and the one Perfect Score who falls in love with the bad guy (Lucy Diamond. Yeah. Like in the sky.) It's lowish budget but adorable and witty, and has a great cast. The original short it was based on also has a great cast, and I think it still may be up on PopcornQ somewhere.

Or Youtube. Okay then.



(I guess that's only the first two minutes. You used to be able to see the whole thing streaming on the internet, but apparently since they stuck it on a DVD with 9 other shorts you may not een want to see, that's no longer possible. Right. Ohoh, here you go, a slightly censored version.)

Angela Robinson isn't just responsible for superspies and the evil lesbian supervillains that love them. She also did Herbie: Fully Loaded (yeah, with Lindsey Lohan) and this great, unfinished webseries called GirlTrash, which was a female-driven modern noir.

She's also directed some of the best episodes of The L Word, including that one with that awesome phone tree. You know the one. If you've ever watched The L Word, which you're required to if you're a lesbian or bisexual woman, or you get kicked out of the club.

Speaking of the club, I know who Angela Robinson is because D.E.B.S. has become a part of the Lesbian Required Viewing List. What list? Oh tsk tsk. You know, the one with Desert Hearts, Personal Best, Go Fish, and more recently Imagine Me & You, Lost and Delirious, The Cave (just kidding!), Saving Face, those episodes of Once and Again where Evan Rachel Wood's character realizes she has feelings for Mischa Barton's character, the first three seasons of Bad Girls, anything adapted from a Sarah Waters novel, and the entire run of Xena: Warrior Princess. Among other things.

Where was I?

Comics!

Angela Robinson is writing a comic for DC Comics. Cool. I'm still not sure how cool this Web dude's going to be (and The Hangman looks a lot like Hooded Justice...) but I'll put it on my pull list, and I'll probably do a write up on that this week.

Don't want to get kicked out of the club, after all.