You know when a creator completely changes an existing character and then that character stays that way forever (for better or for worse)? We're talking about that this week.
No new episode next week. I'm gonna be in sunny Toronto! We'll be back March 21!
Oh my god you guys! The Infinity War trailer is here! We have thoughts about it!
The issue of Catwoman that I really like, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, is Catwoman #32. For my money it's the, ahem, better Batman/Catwoman relationship exploration one-shot.
And, as always, I recommend that entire Catwoman series. It's one of my favourite comic book series. Brubaker does a great job, and then Will Pfeifer takes over on writing and is also great.
I will share some links to my author website and social media accounts when I actually have some content to post there. For now I am just frantically revising my manuscript! But I am very excited to be with Riptide Publishing and I can't wait for you guys to meet Scott and Kip (those of you who are interested in a cute-but-explicit romance between an NHL superstar and an underemployed college grad).
Ladies Night is happening at Strange Adventures on Friday, Dec 15 from 6:30-8pm! If you live in the Halifax area, and are a female or identify as female, you should definitely check it out!
This week we are talking about SUPERHERO ROMANCE!!!! Would it have made more sense to wait until February for this topic? Probably! Do I pretty much want to talk about superhero romances all the time? Yes.
Oh, superhero romance.
Before we get to that, here is that tweet of mine that went viral for whatever reason:
I feel like there's a disconnect between Chris Evans and his fans. pic.twitter.com/IjLKpb6xcv
— Rachelle Goguen (@rachellegoguen) December 2, 2016
Again, I want to clarify: the original tweet by @Glamourizes is poetry. I love it.
Oh! And you can follow Living Between Wednesdays on Twitter now!
Here is the Omaze contest where you and three friends can be trapped in an escape room in Boston with Chris Evans.
If I win he is never getting out of that room.
Alright! On to the romance!
Here is the final page in the the sad and epic love story of Black Widow and Winter Soldier. The evil Red Room assassin, Leo Novokov, made sure Natasha would never remember her romance with poor ol' Bucky:
Bucky's life is extremely good.
The depressing icing on the sadness cake is that Bucky refuses to even let SHIELD try to help restore that part of her memories because "She's better off without me." UGH! Bucky!!!!
Here's my girl Catwoman getting some late night action from Batman. I love how she handles him. And I super love that whip around the neck as she leads him down the stairs:
Flame emoji.
And here's my favourite Captain America love interest...BERNIE!!!
That's my girl!
Damn! Right off the bat she's laying it on thick! I love this woman.
"One what?" "A crush on Josh!"
Bernie!!!!
This is seriously the most comfortable I've seen him with a woman. But it might be because they are talking about classic Hollywood movies:
I picture Steve doing a bang-on Bacall impression here.
And here are a couple of panels from Captain America #289, when Bernie fantasizes about being BERNIE AMERICA!!!
Side note: it is very difficult to Google "Bernie America" these days if you want this result.
I see no difference here between regular Steve Rogers and this version of him.
And let's end it on this recent screengrab from my Avengers Academy game, which is extremely relevant:
Oh man. It's the one you've been waiting for. Or, the one we've been waiting for anyway. The 12-issue Jeph Loeb/Jim Lee hot mess that you can't help but love, Batman: Hush!
Just a couple of things real quick before I post some helpful Hush images.
Here is the link to the interview where Sebastian Stan talks about over-doing it on the bulking up for Civil War. It's from the GQ Style interview that I posted a few weeks ago. Here's that specific part of that Q&A:
He's wrong about the fitted jeans not looking good anymore.
Here's a Nicola Scott tweet, acknowledging that Beefcake Steve Trevor is the best Steve Trevor:
Steve Trevor, Navy Seal in training.
— Nicola Scott (@NicolaScottArt) July 11, 2016
I mean... who wouldn't?#arms #wonderwoman @ruckawriter @DCComics pic.twitter.com/HKTIc2kWKY
Ok, all aboard the crazy train to Hush station!
First, this is that double page spread I was trying to describe where Batman is looking, um, pretty busy but still has a hard time staying focused (based on his rambling interior monologue).
And this is a great example of what Jim Lee thinks appropriate business attire for women is:
Poor, poor Lois.
And here is Bruce Wayne using his excellent detective skills, first noticing the subtle changes in the opera performance he's attending with Selina:
And here he is determining that the man in his arms with a hole in his forehead is DEAD:
Oh, Batman: Hush. You are the best.
I am sure I forgot to mention many things in our conversation about this. I mean, I know for sure that I forgot to mention the fact that Bruce Wayne borrows Lois Lane's work computer to OPEN UP A CHAT ROOM TO TALK SECRETLY TO ORACLE!!!!
This comic, you guys.
Ok, so Dave and I are taking a week off while he goes to SDCC, and then we'll be back to talk about Doctor Strange: The Oath.
This week saw the end of Mark Waid's five-year run on Daredevil, with Chris Samnee on art for almost that entire run. It's sad, but the ending was satisfying, and that got us thinking about long runs by creators and how very few of them actually have solid endings.
So that's what the podcast is about this week.
But first!
Well, honestly, we don't have much to talk about this week.
I mention the creepy Captain America doll that my son picked out for me as a birthday gift. Here's a photo:
And I also mention that Chris Evans was at the premier of his directorial debut, Before We Go, on my birthday, looking super fine. Here's a picture of that:
Please keep in mind that the man in that picture and the doll in the picture above are supposed to look the same.
There was no Renner Report this week. And basically no This Week in Winter Soldier because there is nothing to talk about. But I am pretty distracted imagining that the next Waid/Samnee project is a Winter Soldier comic. Or a Winter Soldier and Black Widow comic. WHAT IF?! #BringBuckyHome
Here's that VERY romantic/horrifying preview image from Planet Hulk #5, which comes out today unless your comics are held up by Labour Day.
Interlaced fingers!!!! If the final issue of this comic isn't at least 80% a hardcore Steve/Bucky make-out session, I am going to be a little disappointed.
I will do whatever I have to to read this comic today, even if it means buying a digital version today, and the hard copy tomorrow. And then the trade whenever that comes out. And then the rights to the movie. I am going to miss these sexy gladiators.
And if you want to see a candid (pap) shot of my boy Sebastian strolling around Manhattan in the least incognito hat he could possibly choose, here you go:
What book is he carrying??!! What's he listening to?! THIS PODCAST?! That's a really big phone in his pocket! He has a pen in his other pocket! For autographs? I love him!
Anyway, these blog posts are very one-sided. I should get Dave to help write them before they just turn into straight Tumblr posts.
We did mention the Moondancers this week when we were talking about Grant Morrison's run on Animal Man. I did a post about those awesome ladies awhile back. You can read it here.
Oh, and that Cerise character Dave mentions? I guess she was in Excalibur a bit or something. You can read about her here, if you like. Or don't.
And, hey! Here's that slow news day front page Dave was talking about at the end of the episode:
Pretty great.
I also want to be clear, when I was talking about Catwoman deciding to give up her baby, what I actually meant is she gave up her 1-year-old daughter, Helena. Like, she had been raising that kid for a year or so. The kid was toddling around and could talk a little. I mean...
So a VERY heart wrenching and difficult decision. And one that...never came up again? And like I said, a few issues later she decides to quit being Catwoman, so the decision to give up her daughter, who she loves, so she could keep being Catwoman is PRETTY DUMB.
Man, I have been wanting to get that off my chest. One of the best series (81 issues!) about a female hero ever and they just throw the whole damn thing in the garbage by the end. Fuck you, DC.
What else did we talk about? Comics...movies...books...Chris Evans? Kind of a lot about Chris Evans this week, I feel (and yet, never enough). Anyway, here he is playing a very physically fit street musician in the movie he directed:
For real I want to see it. Send us a review copy, Chris Evans!
Lord, I'd better just wrap this post up right here. Just know this: we managed to fill an hour because we are the best there is at what we do.
I have been trying to gather my thoughts about the new Fox series Gotham since it debuted last week. I was really hoping for an Arrow-like experience that would restore my love of DC characters. So far I’m not getting that kind of high at all.
The series is set in 2009, which eliminates the challenge of writing suspenseful situations in a world full of smart phones. Also the characters aren’t burdened by the crushing disappointment of the Lost finale.
Here’s a breakdown of the characters we have seen so far:
Bruce Wayne is a little boy, but I would say older than ten years old. Twelve, maybe? His parents are killed in the series premier’s cold open (spoiler). Now he’s dealing with the emotional aftermath of that by burning and cutting himself, listening to loud metal music, and drawing scary things. Oh, television.
James “Jim” “Chino” Gordon is our hero. He has so far maintained one facial expression for the entire series. He’s basically Rex Banner. He is just a detective at this point, but he lives in what could be Bruce Wayne’s penthouse.
Barbara Kean is Gordon’s fiancée and she is WOODEN. She is also a closeted or former lesbian? Who used to date Renee Montoya? Because she is also a lesbian so of course?
Harvey Bullock is a terrible man who is partnered with Gordon. I don’t know if we are supposed to sympathise with this character at all. I don’t.
Alfred Pennyworth is a cool, younger, tougher version of the iconic Wayne butler character. I’m into him.
Selina “Cat” Kyle is a young street hoodlum, stealing to survive. She’s tough and cool and is maybe 13 years old? The actress who plays her is very beautiful and looks a lot like comic book Selina Kyle. I like her.
Oswald Cobblepot is a weird, young psychopath who is largely underestimated by the Gotham underground. They will regret this.
Edward Nygma works for the forensics department of GCPD. He is super annoying and constantly dropping riddles. I’ll bet he becomes The Riddler.
Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen are on this show! I was excited about that. So far they haven’t had a ton to do but I expect they will become allies of Gordon and will provide a lot of the procedural drama part of the show.
Fish Mooney is an original character as far as I know. She’s played by Jada Pinkett Smith so she gets a LOT of screen time. Jada is CHOMPING scenery but it’s enjoyable.
There are some other characters too, like Carmine Falcone and Mayor Richard Kind. They are fine.
The show is 90% dick measuring in the form of men, usually Gordon and Bullock, standing half and inch away from each other and yelling in each other’s faces.
There’s also a lot of wink, nudge moments that are a little clunky, like the aforementioned riddling of the future Riddler. Or a young red-headed girl named Ivy gently nurturing a bunch of house plants.
The writers cram every cliché they can think of into this show, and overall I just want to fast forward ten seasons so it can be about Batman. There are two intriguing elements of the show for me so far:
As I mentioned in a previous post, there is plenty of super hero entertainment to go around these days, so if this show never gets better I’ll be fine with not watching it. These aren’t the desperate times of Smallville and Ghost Rider movies. With The Flash, Constantine, and a new season of Arrow on deck, there’s lots to watch.
Living Between Wednesdays is a place for people who love comic books and superheroes.
