... In Which I Defend Pouches.

Alright now that I'm back what to write, what to write... well the post about purses went over pretty well, so what the hell let's talk about Pouches. 

Rob Liefeld gets a lot of shit. "he can't draw hands and feet", "his people look weird" are things commonly said about the artist. Many reams of virtual ink have been used on Liefeld's alleged short comings. And many of them have a point. But the one slight I've never understood however is the thing about the pouches. People go on and on about the pouches, and frankly out of all of Liefeld, or for that matter the 1990's, idiosyncrasies I find the pouches to be the least objectionable.

Frankly why not have pouches? Superheroes are typically depicted as autonomous units so one would think they'd need stuff. And let's face it the typical super heroic garment isn't exactly pocket heavy. Now I'll grant you, the pouches got out of hand when they started to be worn on leg belts, and also Superheroes in the Superman mold don't really need equipment. But Superheroes like the X-Men (the most egregious pouch offenders) who are often involved in espionage and covert strikes that often lead to the need to take on a survivalist mentality may just need equipment. Another group that could make good use of pouches is the badass normal. After all these heroes only have their equipment and training to defend them. Which leads me to the pouchtastic hero that never seems to get crap for it. Batman, but then of course Batman never gets crap for anything. Of course (my snark about Batman aside) all of Batman's pouches are logically placed on a belt, on his waist.

Of course in the 1990s pouches did get a bit overboard. Pouches everywhere, the thigh, the arm possibly even on a headband. And they where never shown being used. But we don't ridicule the artistic application of pouches we tend to ridicule the concept itself and the concept is sound, unlike other tropes of the 1990s.

The Comic-Con 2013 Post.

Friday's Exhibit Hall.

Well I've finally gotten my life back to normal, so now it's time to reminisce about Comic-Con International 2013. It was a fun show not the blast that previous years have tended to be but very fun nonetheless.

Comic-Con is an interesting show for me, while I tend to have a great time at it every year, I'm left with a feeling that this year will be the year the other shoe drops and it won't be fun anymore, or at least not fun enough to deal with all of the crap that going to Comic-Con International requires. Well I can merrily say that this is not that year. Though it came close.

Purses

Hey everybody it's been a while since I last posted here. Well let me tell you, when you're driving down the highway and encounter a reverse space wedgie of immense proportions, turn around, just turn around. That said I'm alright and I'm already at work on The Super Cliche Hero Chick #4 and I figured I should put something up on the ol' Wonder Blog. So What shall I post about? I'm not doing a production blog for this issue as I spend most of those going "uh.... this week I drew... and stuff" I could write about how DC and Marvel seem allergic to making money... but that's too much work. I know! I'll write one of my self proclaimedly (that's a word... now) witty and insightful comic culture pieces, Hm, uh.

Purses! 

Hey where are you going? this one's gonna be good!

Okay As you may know I write comics. And I've done two series' that have both been led by female main characters. Well  the other day I noticed something, only twice (in the same issue) in my ten years of drawing female led comics have I ever drawn a purse. I thought "well that's an oversight I draw women and I've consistently left out one piece of  kit almost every woman I know carries." After this thought I noticed, while reading comics, nobody draws women with purses, or at least no one who draws the comics I've been reading. And that got me thinking, "is it an oversight or a purposed omission?" And sadly I don't know, I really don't have an answer to that. But I wouldn't be me if I didn't make up some. So here are my thoughts on this huge yet not that big omission in comicdom.

Comic artists are mostly guys and can't get into a feminine mindset. 

Let's face it most comics artists are guys (sadly) and guys just don't think about lady things all that often, unless their married or researching. So let's say married. Since men don't carry purses they don't give them any thought. And sadly many of the men that draw comics think girls have cooties* so it's not likely to change. As for the women who draw comics maybe they're all folks who don't carry purses, or maybe they do carry purses and I'm seriously over thinking this. so onto another reason.

The purse is so ever present that it's invisible. 

There's a psychological concept (sorry I'm not gonna look up what it's called for a silly post about purses) in which we view a persons affects as a part of them. This is best exemplified by the scenario where you see you're uncle Horace in his car driving down the street  and you say "Hey it's uncle Horace!" instead of the more accurate "It's uncle Horace in his bitchin' 57 Chevy". Uncle Horace's car becomes him when he's in it,  perhaps this same effect happens with women and their purses. Leaving the purse as an un-thought about detail. Or it could just be...

Comic artists draw a bajillion things for every comic and who gives a crap about a stupid purse. 

This is probably the heart of the matter. Most comics involve drawing the same thing over and over again, while nowhere on par with animation, a comic artist could easily draw their characters around  a hundred times per issue. And that's on top of places, things, cars, animals, monsters, weaponry, airplanes, explosions, shrapnel, Kirby crackle, power cosmic, dinosaurs, spacecraft, not life as we know it aliens, and cosmic incidents rivaling the big bang. In all of this it's really pretty easy to forget a little thing like a purse.

This is kind of a shame because personal affects can be great tools of visual narrative. Because anything someone keeps on their person can tell us about that person without being told. So maybe we artist should think more about little things like purses. Maybe it'll help us in making our characters people, and thus our comics better.  

Hey this worked out pretty good maybe I should do more of these. Well see you around. 


* sorry I just need to take that potshot again. 
 







 

Seriously! Really!

A Warning the subject I'm going into is one that probably will make it hard for me to keep my normal polite scholarly tone so I may get a bit colourful in my use of language from here on out.... 

Well I'm making my blog rounds Tuesday morning I head to one of my favourites the informative and fun DC Women Kicking Ass and I see this

It Can be seen in context here apparently Tony Harris is a Comics Artist, I don't know him or any of his work, but what I do see here is the tired old Fanboy bullshit of "Cosplay girls aren't real fans."  And it makes my piss boil that this opinion is so damn prevalent on the Internet from fans and professionals.

Long Beach Comic and Horror Con 2012

Me at the booth  photo Nick Newman

Well My first con season in support of The Super Cliche Hero Chick  has come to an end the same place it began last April, at the Long Beach Comic and Horror Con (LBCC). This is always a fun con with a very good atmosphere. I did pretty well, getting my comic into the hands of more people than all the other cons of the year. I also met a lot of people, and may have gotten some future Illustration opportunities. While I've never had truly bad neighbours at a con, I was pleased and honoured to have some wonderful neighbours. First Richard Holmes and Shelly from Orion's Belt with whom I had the great pleasure of talking about pop culture and the art of writing for many of the slow moments of the con. And Illustrator Terry Huddleston who shared many a clourful story about the failings of The Dark Knight Rises. Good neighbours means a good con and therefore I had a great con. Saw some great cosplay as well, including a group portraying the X-men of the 90s and a great Fourth Doctor. What's neat about doing these cons in the LA area is that I'm starting to recognize and know con-goers and they are starting to know and recognize me. It kinda shocked me when a lady was passing by and said "oh it's that Hero Chick I saw the other day" these are the moments that make life good.    

My Copic Sketch card

A cool thing at this con is that Copic a con sponsor gave everyone in Artist alley one of their awesome and pretty expensive markers. And I had a lot of fun toning my artist trading cards. I'm really thinking of getting back into marker toning my stuff again... So mission accomplished corporate advertising guy.

My nieces with their copies of SCHC

On Sunday I got a nice visit from my cousin's husband Nick and my adorable nieces. They where happy to see me and  I them. It's always nice when friends or family stop by at a con, it reduces the feeling of isolation (that at least I get) and gives you a nice second wind during the long day. They liked their copies of my comic. My younger niece insisted on hold hers downside up because "now the girl is right side up"

the Doctor and his sketchcard portrait.

Something that I've enjoyed about this con season is that my book has attracted many female readers. While I'm not really going for a female audience specifically (I truly believe an audience chooses your work not you your audience), but I was always hoping my little funnybook would appeal to both gals and guys. And I find it exciting  that it not only does but that it seems to appeal more to gals.  What do these observations mean? I don't know for sure? but it's exciting none the less.

The best X-men Cosplayers ever

So all in all the LBCC was a great end to a really good con season. I think The Super Cliche Hero Chick launched quite well, all things considered. I've learned a great deal about promoting at a convention, and I hope that next year's Con Tour will be even better.

Bye

Speaking of the next con tour the dates are shaping up (none are yet confirmed)
Free comic Day Bases Cards and Comics May 4
The Long Beach Comic Expo May 11
Stan Lee's Comikaze 2013 Nov 2-3
Long Beach Comic And Horror Con 2013 Nov30-Dec1

Later 

Happy Birthday Batman The Animated series!

Twenty years ago today, Batman: The Animated Series began to air of Fox TV. And the world of Super Heroes on TV Changed. The DC Universe began in this series is still going strong today.

So I'd like to thank Bruce Timm and all of the folks who helped this part of our childhood come to be.

Kevin Smith interviewed Bruce Timm on his Fat Man on the Batman podcast during Comic-Con last July*. He had some great things to say about the origins of the show, check it out.

Batman the Animated Series © Warner Brothers

* I was in the audience neener neener neener.

Because No One Asked.... My Opinion of DC's New 52 One Year Later.

Last Wednesday saw the release of the final twelfth issue of DC's line wide relaunch, which was an apparent attempt to gain new or lapsed readers. Since a year is passed I figured I'd  Hop on the Internet machine, and give my thoughts to the first year. And overall it's a resounding.

Meh!

The New 52 as it was so "hiply" called Started out strong, mostly on hype (Everything except the bat books is gonna change!!!) but very soon it devolved into same shit different day. True we had status quo changes except the bat books and hip and not so hip artists and writers on all steam but it really scarcely amounted to anything. I think it comes to two things. 

The Comic-Con 2012 Interviews Clark Kent and Lois Lane.

And last but never least my favourite coplayers of the con, this charming couple dressed as the Fleischer era Lois Lane and Clark Kent. They have a wonderful story but I'll leave that to them...

 

Due to the noise and lack of an external microphone I was unable to get further back allowing you to see more of their costumes. I do have a picture of them but as I am pretending to be working right now I'll have to tide you over with this pic I found at io9.com.

http://io9.com/5927466/dc-comics-cosplay/gallery/24

The Comic-Con 2012 Interviews Supergirl and Nightwing

Here are a couple dressed as Supergirl and Nightwing from DC Comics. She is one of the best Supergirls I've seen.

Due to the noise and lack of an external microphone I was unable to get further back allowing you to see more of their costumes. And since we where in a crowded area it would have been a bad idea to take a picture. luckily I found this pic of Supergirl by David Ngo sadly I haven't found anything of Nightwing.

Photo by David Ngo  http://www.dtjaaaam.com/

The Comic-Con 2012 Interviews Hernando from Abstract Studios.

As we continue My cousin and I's series of Comic-Con interviews, we talk to Hernando, booth guy from Terry Moore's Abstract Studios. As we where constantly visiting this booth we decided to interview Hernando about what it's like working a Huge con like San Diego.  He had some interesting answers.

Abstract Studios website is http://terrymooreart.com/  if your not reading Mr Moore's comics What's wrong with you. Start!

The Comic-Con 2012 interviews pt 1

Here we interview Nancy and Melody from Girls Drawing girls

The inevitable Comic-con post.

Well I'm back, had my dehydrated sleep deprived first day, and now life is back to normal. I of course went to the Comic-con International in San Diego. And it was a blast. It's funny I've been going to this show since 2001 and with all of the changes and the ever expanding crowds I'm always waiting for the other shoe t to drop, when I'll come home having had a terrible experience but that's still never happened. Maybe if I hadn't grown up with the con that would be different.

So what did I do? well I went to my first TV panel, for the MythBusters on Saturday night, that was quite fun. I really admired how Adam, Kari and Tory actually did their own handouts when people where in line. I'd experienced lines before at Comic-con, sometimes to no avail, but this was the first LINE I ever was in, we had actually given up but after meeting Kari Byron and realising that it was only twenty minutes to panel we figured "what else are we doing" It was a fun panel and we got to learn things like what's the most embarrassing question (who' Kari with) what was their favourite explosion (the water heater) and what myths would they like to do but the insurance won't let them (nuking the fridge).

I also went to see the thirtieth anniversary panel for Love and Rockets. The Hernandez Bros comic series has been a favourite of mine for some time, and it was great to see a talk by all three brothers. The panel included a belated awarding of the inkpot award to forgotten Hernandez bro Mario.

As well as the few panels I went to, I also took part in the Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog Singalong which is always fun, took in a performance of the nerdcore band Kirby Krackle. And was in the audience for a recording of a Kevin Smith Podcast Fatman on the Batman, in which he interviewed Batman: the Animated series producer and designer Bruce Timm.

Most of my time I spent in the exhibit hall where I met some of my favourite Comics artists (some of them for he manyith time) and admired cosplayers. Amongst the artists I met where Terry Moore whose Rachel Rising is a current favourite, Jaime Hernandez, Jamal Igle (of whom you'll be seeing a video interview soon), Bernard Chiang, Adam Warren, Bruce Timm, Frank Cho, J. Scott Campbell, and some of my favourite guy's Reed Gunther's Shane and Chris Houghton.

Oh and I nearly puked in my mouth when i saw the line for commission pickup for Rob Liefeild.

I can't say I really had any complaints about the con this year. But I do have to praise one thing. Comic-Con got rid of the unfriendly and useless  Elite Event Services. I had grown quite displeased with the staff over the last couple of years and it was good to see them go. In their place was not one but two staffs one for the exhibit hall and one for the rest of the center. I found that plus a staff of friendly volunteers efficient and as pleasant as a group of people looking after a large crowd can be.

Overall I really enjoyed Comic-Con 2012, and if the new pre reg system works out in my favour I hope to keep enjoying the con for the first time in years I don't feel like that shoe will drop any time soon.

Marvel NOW.

Well the other shoe has dropped, DC having done "well"* with their new 52. Marvel wants a bit of the Reboot action as well. So they will be launching the "it's not a reboot really" Relaunch of many of their big titles called Marvel NOW. Launching "new and daring" new versions of some of their popular titles. But call it a reboot and Marvel will kick your ass. Marvel is very touchy about this whole reboot business, trying much of the last year to re craft their universe without a continuity shift, which lets be honest Marvel's pretty broken and could use one.

But Why is Marvel so, so, so, resistant to calling everything that their doing what it is. A Reboot. probably because they created this whole continuity business to begin with. See no matter what the fanboys'll tell you. DC really doesn't have a proper continuity before 1986. Sure there was a consistency of story and occasionally, very occasionally, they would reference an old story. There was Earth 2, but that really wasn't to "preserve" the golden age continuity as many claim, but kind of a retirement home for the golden age characters. But in the late seventies and eighties DC started to get the continuity bug, which led to the first real reboot in comics history, Crisis on the Infinite Earths. But why this change, one guess is that across town Marvel Comics was killing them and DC was trying to be more like them, even luring Jack Kirby away. And Marvel had this thing called continuity.

DC is over 77 years old and their characters have changed greatly with the ebb and flow of the years. but Marvel on the other hand for all intents and purposes is only 51. And for the first ten years all of the Marvel comics where made by only a handful of men, notably Jack Kirby, and Editor writer Stan Lee. So what happened with marvel, is that for ten years and hundreds of issues, they produced mass market comics with an auteur sensibility. And this included a rich well maintained history which we comics fans call continuity. And it continued well after the founders of Marvel moved on. It's actually really neat to this sometime. Get a run of any marvel comic that started under Stan Lee + and read it until about what was published in the late 80s. It's really amazing how well it flows as one story even with more obtuse titles like  X-men. This however started to fray in the 1990s when more titles and creative teams got involved. And into the first decade of the twenty first, Where a year is a long run for a creative team and two is forever. There have now been so many cooks in the kitchen, that it should be nos surprise Marvel is serving spoilt soup. Marvels continuity was a good run but fifty years is a long time to be telling one story, and a reboot isn't a bad idea if they want to keep these media properties fresh and exciting. But one has to understand Marvel's reluctance, the whole notion of continuity and timeline is what their company is built upon.  


* It's not really clear how well the new 52 is doing, the initial sales where great but now the sales of DC are apparently back to pre New 52 levels, and their farce of a Nielsen survey is close to useless. Of course it's never been exactly clear what exactly DC wanted out of the reboot.   

+I recommend the essentials collections for this exercise. 

In a Perfect World This Would Exist.

This been making the rounds, but this Mangaesque re-imagining of Wonder Woman. That artist Ben Caldwell submitted to DC comics looks great. And I wish I and my niece could be reading it.

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?333339-ww-manga-blah-blah&p=11646885#post11646885 

Art By Ben Caldwell Wonder Woman is the property of DC Comics

The Obligatory Post About Watchmen.

As everyone in the comics world knows.  DC will be launching it's controversial series' Before Watchmen, the prequels to the legendary award winning comics series (sorry hipsters Watchmen is not a graphic novel it is a twelve issue limited series. It is a closed story but there was no authorial intent to be a graphic novel) tomorrow. And there will be no review of it at all on this site because I do not plan to read it. I just don't care, I read Watchmen for the first time last year, don't know why, my dad got it back when it came out, but I digress, and I don't need any more Watchmen.

The comic is a great story about a group of aging superheroes in a world where being a costumed hero is illegal. One is killed and the story is about the unraveling of that mystery. But the story is only really the platform upon which the tale unfolds, the real meat of it is the reflections of the characters from when they where heroes. And on top of that it is a masterpiece of comics formalism, a tale meant to be a comic that only works as a comic (sorry Mr Snyder) but enough of that, there are many who've written about Watchmen that have said everything that I have to say, most likely better, so I'll let you seek them out.

Like any Great book, I was left fulfilled by my Watchmen experience. and so I'm not really interested, DC definitely has the rights (however dubious) to make this series, and they have some great artists and writers on it so it will be of the highest quality. But like I said I'm good on Watchmen.

But one reason that has nothing to do with my deciding to not read Before Watchmen is Alan Moore. Many Many and did I mention Many, comics fans are united in supposed solidarity (bet you half of em buy it) behind the wronged Alan Moore, who naturally is griping about this whole thing. His main complaint is that he's been cheated out of his intellectual property, his second is that it's creatively wrong, to use his characters for the new series'. Now his first point I have sympathies for, Moore's deal with DC basically (as I have heard it) was that if Watchmen ever went out of print, the rights to the series would go back to Moore and artist Dave Gibbons*. This I'm sure was done because DC didn't think that the series would end up being so huge as it was not DC's practice to give up copyrights to anyone. Needless to say it was a big hit and weather, by demand, or a serious dick move Watchmen has never left print. Now this is a fair point, Moore and Gibbons where promised certain concessions that many believe where never delivered, DC has made Many millions off of Watchmen, and they still would make many more even if Alan Moore and Gibbons where to own the rights. And I believe they ethically should have them. It's his Second argument that it is wrong to use his characters in any sequel material, that bugs me.

First, many don't know this, but there was always meant to be more Watchmen, it was even originally mean to be written by the original authors Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, but time, bad blood and the books renown have conspired to make more Watchmen impossible, until now. But the big sticking point to me is the way Moore tries to make an ethical debate out of other people using his characters when his entire career has been built upon the foundation of doing just that. Many of Moore's greatest works are post modern takes on classic literary characters, notably The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Lost Girls and oh Yes Watchmen. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, is about characters from many Victorian novels later on life becoming a super team. And Watchmen (it's most religious fans don't like it when we bring this up) started out as a big series involving the characters DC had just bought from Charlton comics. The story goes that when DC saw that Moore was "playing for keeps" with the characters, DC had him make them into thinly veiled Captain Ersatz'. But the final straw with Moore's complaints for me is the existence of the graphic novel lost Girls.  Lost Girls, is an erotic/pornographic, book that features Alice, Wendy and  Dorthy of Wonderland, Peter Pan, and Oz fame respectively. Now I've got no problem with erotica or porn not my taste but an author can do what he wants. My problem is I'm Pretty sure Carroll, Barrie and Baum would not be amused buy this. But Moore views it as perfectly fine because they're dead, and the characters are public domain. So turning memorable children's characters into porn is fine even though one could tell the original authors most likely would not care for it, is okay, but for the legal copyright holder  making series' based on Moore's work that will mostly likely be in keeping to the tone and character of the original is wrong? I'm sorry Alan Moore, looking at you're body of work, you don't get to have the high ground here.




* Now Moore was no rookie at the time he wrote Watchmen working most if not all his career with publisher owned material. I have a hard time believing that Moore actually trusted DC comics to give the rights to Watchmen to him ever! Screwing the talent has and will always be company policy at the big two.

Long Beach Comic Expo

Last weekend I worked the Long Beach Comic Expo, promoting my new comic "The Super Cliche Hero Chick"and I had a great time met a bunch of people, and saw many great things. Sold a good amount, so it was a really good start for my new comic.

1. 
   

Wonder Con.

Went to Wonder Con last Saturday. And it was fun, I was a bit bummed early in the day as my companions had to bow out for various reasons, and it was raining, which always puts a funk on things. But I had a really good time. Didn't make it to any panels, but had a fun time on the floor, talked to some friends in Artist Alley, and found some cool stuff. Got myself some old Star Trek and Supergirl stuff, and Womanthology. Much will be said about that book when I've finished with it. One of the neat things about the con is that the Anaheim Convention Center had a few other things going on (which is standard operating procedure for the place), a volleyball tournament and the ever present cheer competition. But it added a fun energy to the place, and I saw many volleyball girls taking pictures with cosplayers. It was great.

But one thing that Wonder Con 2012 left me with was a feeling that Comic-Con International made the right choice staying in San Diego. The big problem is that the Convention Center though large is in a neghbourhood that has no infastructure for it. The parking for the center was full by 9:30 (the con opened at 10:00) and all but the hotels in walking distance had no connection to it. We parked at Disneyland (we have free parking on our annual passes) and walked. The only other option was to go to Anaheim Stadium and get bussed in. And this was a small convention. Comic Con is larger than both of the things going on in the main convention center. And most likely Comic Con would be sharing the facility, something would at least be in the arena. Wonder Con was great but, if it was any indication, Comic-Con International would turn the city of Anaheim into a black hole.

A Tribute to Jean Giraud.

On March 10 the comic artist Jean Giraud, also known under his pen name Moebius, passed away. He was a true great and a towering talent. Comics are definatley richer to have had him as part of the craft. Giraud initially gained fame doing western comics (a genre that is very popular in his native France) the most famous being that of the Ranger Lt. Blueberry. If that was the only thing Giraud had ever done, I believe he would still be viewed as a legend. But Blueberry was just his "day job". Giraud was extremely passionate about the art and craft of comics, and was famous for being experimental. Eventually to, free his work from his famous style, as well a possibly to protect his reputation from his experiments. He created the pen name, some say alter ego, of Moebius for his experimental work. And it is with this work that he redefined comics for a whole generation. Moebius' bold experimental work was usually in the vein of science fiction, and it never repeated itself, from wordless comics like "Arzach" to pure surrealism like "Le Garage Hermetic" to social satire and commentary, and surreal trance like autobiography. He proved that comics have no limits and he proved it with some of the most beautifully rendered comics. As well as pushing the envelope Giraud also did much to facilitate the works of others that wanted to push the boundaries of the form, with the foundation of Les Humanoids, and their seminal magazine Metal Hurlant, which was made available in the US in a diminished sense by the National Lampoon as Heavy Metal. Due to his influence as a comics artists many film makers approached Giraud, to do design for them including Alejandro Jodrowsky's (whom he collabarated on comics with as well including the amazing "L'Incal) unmade film of "Dune". Ridley Scott on "Alien", and probably most famously of Stephen Linsberger's Tron. Aside from directly designing films his influence pours over other's like Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" (Scott has never hidden his love of Moebius) and Luc Besson's the "Fifth Element" Some have even said that "The Fifth Element" is a complete ripoff of Moebius and Jodorowsky's "L' Incal". Giraud was an amazing talent. I have never seen a comic artist read his work and not come away influenced. And there is something magical about his influence, you can tell that the artist has been inspired but, there are not many Moebius wannabes like their are of many other great artists. I believe that the biggest aspect of this is that more than anything Giraud's art expresses to the reader the power of the imagination, and that's what artists take away from him.

As with all of my tributes like this, I like to point out, although he is a god of comics art to me and others. He is just a man, and however sad we are at the loss of Giraud. It is more sad and painful to those who knew him as just a man. The people to which he was not Giraud or Moebius, but Father, Brother, husband, Grandfather, and friend. And to these people I offer my condolences. And I urge others to keep in their thoughts and prayers.

David

Image belongs to copyright holder used for scholarly purposes.

Clark Kent's Glasses.

There is no superhero secret identity more mocked and openly made fun of than Superman Clark Kent. I've even made a parody of it in my comic “the Super Cliché Hero Chick”. I hear it all of the time, “How can Lois be so Dumb?” “it's just glasses”. The writers in less suspending of disbelief times have even made “excuses” of how he does it, “he vibrates really fast” or “he uses super muscles to change his face” (even though they look the same). But, after drawing my character in a Clark Kentesque disguise and watching the first couple of Christopher Reeves movies, I've come to realize that the Glasses aren't actually as bad of a disguise as our cynical minds like to believe.

First of all I have to say that the costume has definitely failed in recent years, this I believe is due to the falling out of favor of Horned Rimmed, and other large framed spectacles styling. Glasses in general dominate their wearer's face. Everyone has had that moment where they first see someone that they know without their glasses, and boy do they look weird right? And larger frames and dark rims dominate the face even more. Recently I was trying on some glasses at Costco, because the style I've worn for nearly twenty years has finally dropped off the map. And out of curiosity, I tried on some horned rims and you know what, I looked like horned rimmed glasses. Not me the glasses, they so dominated my face. Pair this with the fact that the classic Super man look is Large horned rimmed glasses, you have a situation where Clark Kent is practically wearing a domino mask.

Of course the Clark Kent costume is not nor has it ever been just the glasses. Clark Kent and Superman wear a different hairstyle, and Kent wears lose fitting or constricting clothing. I'm sure you've noticed how people act differently and carry themselves differently in dress clothes that casual, or a costume. I personally find that when I wear a waistcoat, I stand taller, and thus I tend to wear them when I want to impress people. I mean if not for this the 19^th century symbol of oppression, the corset, would not be such a popular accessory today.

So the Clark Kent costume, adds up if you think about it. Face altering glasses, losing an Iconic hair do (c'mon you think anyone's looking at Kal Els face when distracted by the spit-curl of power?), and wearing posture altering clothing. These are all techniques that actors and spies have been using for centuries.

Of course this all falls apart, because of one thing, how many people know, Clark Kent. These things can make you look like a different person, but your friends, co workers etc. will recognize you. Now in the old days this wasn't a problem. No one really knew Clark Kent. Think about it, how often did anyone from the planet mingle with Clark beyond staff meetings and such. Lois Lane was not Clark Kent's Girlfriend, She was Superman's Girlfriend , Jimmy Olsen was not Clark's Pal, he was Superman's Pal. Clark was a loner who came to work made no impression and went home. Now Everyone knows Clark, in fact Clark is no longer the disguise, Hell even Lex Luthor now knows Clark Kent. Now I have to say I like the Clark is the real him, revisions. But it does make the secretly Superman tougher to pull off vis a vie suspension of disbelief. And in fact they have made adjustments for it, there has be no revival of Superman, since the 1977 movie where Lois doesn’t figure out that Clark and Superman are one. I know your saying “but what about the new 52 it's just started”, well as of issue four of the Superman Title by George Perez. She's already figuring it out. I think they've figured out how keep the suspension of disbelief, let the smartest friend figure it out. It also keeps Lois from looking dumb.

Well there are my thoughts on the most mocked Secret identity in comics, I don't think it's a bad disguise really. And in fact the only thing that makes it look bad at all is not that it's ill conceived but that it comes from another time.

Picture borrowed from everyguyed.com

Into the Breach! David Reads Digital Comics

I recently got an iPhone. I resisted for quite a while but the time was right. And since I got an iPhone and with the whole comics community going on and on about digital distribution, I figured I'd down load the top two digital apps (I've no interest in single company apps) and give it a go. Both out of curiosity as well as a future avenue for the distribution of my own comics. But first a bit of a disclaimer, I am very fond of print, I like the act of holding a book in my hands, the size of it, the smell of it, and all of that. Also I've never had much love for reading comics on a screen, and despite being a web comic artist, I've never been able to really get into reading them, unless of course it is a trade of a web comic. So there you know my biases.

Comics X by Comixology.

The first comics reader app that got was Comics X. This if all the chatter is to be believed is the most popular comics reader. And it shows their library of comics is extensive and deep. And the shop is easy to navigate taking it's cues from the iTunes mold. And as easily as I could think it, I had found the free sample comics and had downloaded a couple. I downloaded the first Wonder Woman story as well as Chew and Supergirl Cosmic Adventures in the Seventh Grade. These where chosen for their variety as well as being comics I've been wanting to check out. And then came the first hurdle, Guided View. Comixology Has created an interactive feature that guides you through the page, zooming between panels. And I hated it, at first. At times it was so touch sensitive that I’d be going to the wrong panel and other times I wouldn't be able to get it to change, This would not be a problem at all if I was using a tablet, I'd just turn the damned thing off. But without a good magnification function, guided view was the only way to go, on a phone. After a while though I stopped being an old phogey and came to terms with Guided View and am now working it like a pro. As to the reading experience, as mentioned before I don't care for reading from a screen, but the line work was represented well and the magnification that Guided View provided was big enough for a good reading. And the colours where of a richness I am totally unused to in comics. I'd say it was quite good not for me but I can see the appeal, plus I have some cool comics with me all of the time. The only flaw with Guided View is you can't really take in the page as a whole while reading it, but this more of a iPhone screen size problem than a problem with the app. If I was using a tablet, there would be no issue at all I'd turn Guided View off. With the comics I chose, I found that the reader worked best with the old and children's comics, due to their use of a stricter grid. I found many of the nuances of the modern art of Chew to be lost in Guided View, again only a problem on the Phone.

Graphic.ly

I also tried the increasingly popular Graphic.ly. This reader was of interest to me as it is the big time reader for Indie comics (aka me). I'll admit that I haven't really tried out this one as much. Firstly it's a social network as well as a store and I didn't find the search functions quite as user friendly as I'm accustomed to, but after a while of trying to find something good that was free (didn't want to be bothered with signing up credit card info I have no issues paying for comics) and having a hard time finding anything, I remembered my table mate from last year at A.P.E. Tom Ramirez had his first issue on Graphic.ly for free, So I downloaded Fighting Yamako Chan. And well I didn't really like Graphic.ly very much, on an iPhone. To be perfectly honest I loved a lot of things about the app. It presents itself in landscape as two page spreads. But there is no magnification feature other than the iPhone two finger technique. And I just found it a cumbersome read. And since I found it unpleasant on the Phone I left it at that. That said if I was using a tablet I think Graphic.ly would be my preferred app. As it presents comics the way I like to experience them.

So that's my opinion of the top two comics apps (at least as far as I hear about them) I probably won't fully embrace them, but they are good products, if you are inclined to use them. And I probably would if I didn't have access to good comics shops. I also checked them out to see if they where good at representing the comics themselves, and both did that in spades and I would be more than willing to put any of my comics onto either of these apps. In fact after using them especially Comics X, I'm willing to believe the hyperbole that “digital is the new newsstand.