Friday, March 28, 2014

SuperMOOC2, New Comics, Old Comics, and Action Figures

This month, I started SuperMOOC2 -- Social Issues Through Comic Books, taught by the impossibly awesome Christy Blanch. This class, still through Canvas, is not through Ball State as the Gender class was. (Those crazy fools weren't interested in doing another one. Idiots...) I got introduced to Buzzkill, which was an interesting and somewhat depressing look at substance use and abuse, and am looking forward to the interview with Donny Cates (who co-wrote the series) next week. We have already had an interview with the very cool and very forthright Denny O'Neil, who wrote the Legends of the Dark Knight: Venom and the Green Lantern/Green Arrow arcs we read. Modules for this class are addiction, the environment, social inequality, immigration and "media, government intervention, and information privacy." (See the full reading list here; unfortunately, I think it's too late to join the class.)

In other comics news, Ms. Marvel (written by G. Willow Wilson) is awesome and the new She-Hulk book is fun so far, but I am not loving Javier Pulido's interior art (I kind of hate it, actually). On the advice of a friend, I also picked up New Warriors and X-Force. Those may help fill in the gap that The Movement creates. [Pause for a moment of silence at the conclusion of that singular book, with issue #12.] I'm getting the Captain Marvel floppies (I had been reading the trades), and picked up Rat Queens (which is hilarious). Pretty Deadly, Secret Avengers, Red Sonja, Rod Espinosa's Steampunk one-shots (really loving those), Trinity of Sin: Pandora, Batman '66 and Brian Wood's X-Men -- I think that rounds out all my current reads.* It's gotten to the point that when we go to Dreamland, I'm getting more books than my husband is. (Which reminds me, I haven't been this week...)

I've been slowly acquiring all of the Promethea comics from Half-Price Books, and am missing only ten issues. I haven't read them, because I don't have the full run. I've read the first one, because it was 99¢ on Comixology and I thought I'd give it a shot, which is what prompted me to start getting the others. I got the action figure off ebay.


Someone mentioned the Batman "Orca" arc in a discussion thread, and I was intrigued enough to snag those on ebay, too. If Christy ever wanted to do a class "Ethics Through Comic Books," those three issues would be a great addition. It's a very "ends justify the means" Robin Hood sort of story, where Orca (our new villainess) steals from a wealthy slumlord to help save a neighborhood. I totally sympathize with Orca's mission; this is a story railing against the 1%. It's also interesting to see Batman cast in the light of bad guy for being associated with the real villain of the story (the slumlord). Sadly, I don't have an Orca action figure (pretty sure there never was one).

Also found in HPB excursions, Ace and three Austin Powers figures. I initially had my husband put those three back because Austin Powers is asinine and stupid... then second-guessed myself and went back and got them later that evening. Soooo now I have Felicity Shagwell, Fembot and Vanessa Kensington -- hey, they were only $5 apiece. (Ace was not so cheap.)


Bad photos are bad, but I'm feeling too lazy to get out a real camera.
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* Oops! Forgot Godzilla and Hactivist (just back from the LCS). WOO! Legends of Red Sonja! And Aw... it's the last one. :(

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