The universe can't handle the awesomeness of a Katie Power/Shulkie teamup

This is the most gratuitous Booster ass shot I have ever seen.

No matter what comic he's in, Booster always has the most lovingly detailed rear. I think only Nightwing beats him in the sheer number of butt shots.

Can these two team up forever please? Thank you.

Jay's my favourite JSA member. He's like an awesome and yet amusingly embarrassing grandpa. And his hat is the best.

MY LOVE FOR GUY KNOWS NO BOUNDS

This was starting out so philosophical and deep and then ended up...not.

I'm rereading Booster Gold at the moment. I read it about a year ago and have vague memories of most of the issues, except this one! Which is insane because a) Booster has a drinking contest with Jonah Hex and b) Nova's grand plan to kill the doctor who delivered Jonathan Kent's grandfather (or something) is to HAVE BUFFALO MATERIALIZE IN THE AIR AND DROP ON HIS HEAD. Brilliant.

One of these days I have to post my reasons for being deeply in love with Guy Gardner, but I will reveal one of said reasons right now: his fashion sense. His idea of badass is assless chaps and crop tops and his idea of incognito is a bright yellow pimp suit. YES.

Ralphina

You all need to be reading Formerly Known As the Justice League and its sequel I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League. If it doesn't switch you to the DCU for life, absolutely nothing will (except maybe Blue Beetle).

More funny panels will be coming later, but I want to focus on the most depressing aspect of the series:

(Ralph mistakenly thinks that Sue is pregnant).

I hated the art when I first saw it, but it's kind of growing on me. The faces are so expressive. Just look at Ralph's goofy smile in panel 2.

Ralph and Sue are seen as one of the best couples in comicdom. They're really cute together and they actually love each other. All their interactions in this series are great, but unfortunately in the back of my mind, all I could think was...

Not only does Sue end up dying, but she ends up being burned to death, which could not have been an easy death. Is there anything more soul crushingly depressing than the formerly jaunty Ralph wailing in the rain while clutching the burned husk of his wife?

Oh, and here's what makes it WORSE: in the first set of panels, Ralph is delighted at the idea of becoming a father. It's later revealed that Sue had become pregnant right before her death. COME ON, DC!

Also sad: I LOVE Max Lord in FKATJL. He's kind of a fussy, manipulative jerk, but also really funny (and I'm pretty sure he has a cute crush on Sue). But I couldn't completely enjoy him because I know that someday he will go crazy, shoot Ted in the head, and then have his neck snapped by Wonder Woman. DC: WHERE DREAMS GO TO DIE.

Poor G'nort. All he wants is to pee!

My stomach was making the rumblies...that only hands could satisfy

"Caaaarl! That kills people, Caaaarl!"

That's awkward, Magog, seeing as how SPOILER Rip's actually Booster's son.

Here's a picture that I've had forever but never used:

A pubescent Spider-Man getting hit in the chest with a very phallic object wielded by Doc Ock. You're welcome.

Peej and Wondy: Best teamup ever

No kidding he wasn't the best choice. He went to save everyone in the hospital and got shot IMMEDIATELY. The fate of the world is at stake here: couldn't you at least send Superman

or something?

Look at the death look. Make fun of Booster at your peril, Magog!

I loved this teamup a lot. Wonder Woman is calm, methodical, and patient. Peej just wants to get out there and punch someone in the face.

Wow, Booster. That is...some hair you've got there.

There's just something so charming about this panel. Poor C-list villain...you'll never get the respect that you so crave.

THE LITTLE CHIBI VILLAINS ARE SO CUTE! Catwoman (unfortunately not pictured) was the cutest, but I also love Mr. Freeze there (his gun shoots ice cream) but of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention little Lex riding on adorable/ugly Doomsday.

I'm eating for A THOUSAND

I'm very amused how May is completely unconcerned with Felicity Hardy and Franklin Richards back there. She doesn't care that one or both may be injured. She's all, "damn, Scarlet

Spider fell...oh well, at least Franklin broke her fall." At least now May cares about Franklin about as much as everyone else does. Hopefully his appearances will be few and far between now that May doesn't have a crush on him anymore. I'll take more Darkdevil instead. Or Normie and Raptor.

Well this is...less than appealing.

Side note: DC has some pretty stupid villains. Marvel has Stilt-Man and Lady Stilt-Man, but DC has both a caterpillar with super intelligence (Mr. Mind) and a blue and purple star that attaches to your face (Starro).

Best story arc of LIFE (well, in the DCU at least...it's about on par with the Luke Cage storyline where he strong arms the FF into giving him their jet and then he flies to Latveria to get Doom to cough up two hundred bucks.) Anyway, chibi heroes and villains appear in the normal universe and have to learn to cope.

As a side note, I was showing my Mom different examples of artwork to see which ones she liked best. I showed her this panel (Rafael Albuquerque), Studio Udon, I think Michael Turner, and Ed McGuinness. Mom liked this one the least, and when I asked her why she said that "the characters looked too childlike." I then informed her that was the point. You'd think she'd have realized that from the presence of the real Batman, but then again I had sensed that her heart wasn't really in the discussion.

Sound Effect Mania

I've had a bunch of sound effect pictures saved for an epic post, and that time is TODAY, my friends!

Green Goblin is second only to T-Ray (and maybe Typhoid Mary) on my list of most hated villains, but he has some badass sound effects. BWOMF? Come on, that's awesome. If I ever write comic books, I would have so much fun making up the most random sound effects.

Plus I love puns.

Booster Gold/Donkey Kong crossover: SO WRONG, IT'S RIGHT.

I'm sorry, but I have NO IDEA what KRAKKA KRAKKA FOOM is supposed to sound like in real life. Maybe the FOOM part, but not the

KRAKKA KRAKKA.

Ditto for RRAKKOOOO. Half

the time I think the writers are just fucking with us with some of these sound effects.

PS: I like that Hal/Parallax says "Gnats" when something goes wrong.

Like RUMP? Come on, that's a noun, not a sound effect. Parenthetically, I have no idea what comic this is from. I should label my pictures better.

So that's the sound that grabbing a hidden recorder from a dbag in a weird looking wetsuit makes.

If you've ever wondered what it sounds like when your fake parents from another universe make a cake come into existence out of thin air...now you know.

On the other hand, this is a great representation of what it would sound like to get your heart removed by Zombie Ted.

Fred Van Lente is, hands down, the king of sound effects. Sproy bloom? It makes NO SENSE but it's AWESOME.

PS: This is my only exposure to Namora, and I LOVE HER despite the fact that she is for some reason in love with her cousin Namor, he of the Spock eyebrows and scaly Speedos.

Edit: Apparently Namor and Namora are NOT related by blood, making her crush less uncomfortable. I still ship Namora/Herc though.

Things I Find Inexplicably Hilarious

A toad man from outer space yelling "Scarper!"














The fact that Ares' outfit is half Greek god wear and half normal denim.














A loincloth-clad person from the past yelling "DISEMBOWEL HIM!" Way to be specific in your threats.
















Dr. Strange laughing in delight as he is lifted by She-Hulk. From what I've seen of him, he seems almost on another plain than the rest of the characters - you'd never see him just hanging out, or whatever, so when he does something refreshingly normal, I find it very charming. Dr. Strange is another one of those characters that I just LOVE, even though I've hardly seen him in anything. I've only seen him in Cable/Deadpool (and he wasn't particularly noteworthy there) and on Scans Daily. For awhile I kept mixing him up with Mr. Sinister (another character I just love without seeing much of him. That stems purely from his appearance in Cable/Deadpool when he told Deadpool to wash his hands after spending about ten panels peeing). Although it's not too inexplicable, actually. I saw a few pages of a comic on Scans Daily where he teamed up with Spider-Man and he was going about his normal daily routine - checking the fabric of reality for problems - with a coffee and doughnut in his hand.

Also I love him for this:














You wouldn't think the greatest sorcerer in the world would need glasses, but there you go. Dr. Strange is an appealing mixture of you know, ethereal, otherworldly qualities - he's not very accessible as a character, really, when you think about it - and also of the mundane (like the glasses and the fact that he has a coffee and doughnut every morning). I want to read more stuff featuring him. On She-Hulk, a character gets exiled to Duck World (where Howard the Duck comes from) and gets help from Ducktor Strange, a duck version of Dr. Strange (obviously). I think those two need to team up in a mini or something. If they fight my favourite villain (Dr. Doom) and another batshit villain like the Armless Tiger Man and maybe team up with Squirrel Girl, that would be like, my ultimate comic. Nick Fury could join them. Oh man, that needs to be written like, YESTERDAY.

Release the Drop Bears!

I love Nextwave, because it features robots getting their heads eaten by drop bears.

Side note: I realize this is a common sentiment, but Stuart Immonen's art is amazing. Proves you don't need to use photorealism to get expressive faces.

















I like DC, but no one does mass fight scenes like Marvel.















What DC does have, though is stupid names. Wildebeest Society?

Beat Panel Madness

This might be kind of a weird thing to say. But I LOVE beat panels. I think they're so hilarious every single time. They're like a foolproof comedy device. To whit:


















Batman glaring at Jaime while Jaime still has puke around his mouth and then Jaime being sheepish defines his whole persona (and every Batman teamup he has).















Hector: Who?
The fact that Mephistopheles (spoiler) turns out to be an old man who just wants to be left alone makes this, in hindsight, like 3x funnier.


















I just realized most of my beat panels are Blue Beetle. Oh Jaime, WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GET CANCELLED? And now you're with the Titans, and you're not fun.
Anyway, this is one of my favourite beat panels. Dr. Mid-Nite is such a B-lister and he finally gets his chance to mentor a young hero (just like Batman!) and...it blows up in his face.
















This is my favourite. Hal/Parallax is all in evil mode, talking about how he wants everyone to feel fear and then he looks up...and four Beetles and Booster Gold are watching him from inside a little bubble. Dan puts it best: "We're five grown men dressed in bright colours inside a clear plastic bubble set against a rainbow background, Jaime. They saw us." The two beat panels just make it better.














Jaime has just finished explaining a nefarious plan by the Reach, involving manufacturing the memories of this fellow here, whose name I can't recall. I love Danni's reaction, especially when juxtaposed with the tragic hero pose of the red guy.

Top 10 Comics Supporting Characters

I'm going to try something I'm hoping to make a weekly installment, provided I can think of enough top 10 lists. Today's list is the best supporting characters in comics. These are characters who have not been major characters in other comics, otherwise I would have included Ted in Birds of Prey or Beast in Cable/Deadpool or Guy Gardner in Blue Beetle. Also, these are from comics I've read, which is why Alfred isn't there (while he's pretty hot in All-Star Batman, he's also not really Alfred) or Aunt May or any of the other iconic supporting characters.

10. Misfit (Birds of Prey)




























Misfit is a homeless teenager with the ability to teleport. She initially wants to be the next Batgirl, but Babs is a total bitch to her (including showing her autopsy photos of Steph, the previous Batgirl) and Misfit gives up on being Batgirl, but not on fighting crime. She tends to teleport into random situations to help the Birds, much to the chagrin of Babs. She's also fond of yelling "DARK VENNNNNNNNNNGEANCCCCCCCCCCCE" for some reason. She's naive and inexperienced, but her enthusiasm is so endearing you can't help but love her.

9. Headpool (Deadpool: Merc With a Mouth)
















Headpool is the zombiefied head of Deadpool. AIM tried to capture him (it?) for a weapon, but Deadpool and Betty stole him. He's just like Deadpool but he seems to be more lecherous, even hitting on Betty multiple times. Headpool has no body, and he still thinks he has game. He also doesn't see his lack of a body as a problem. That takes balls.

8. Skeets (Booster Gold)
















The awesomeness of Skeets was detailed here. He's some kind of security droid that Booster stole from the museum where he worked and now he's a sidekick of sorts to Booster. He's no pansy and joins in fighting whenever he can. He's also probably the one who understands Booster the best, even more than Rip and Michelle sometimes. He's kind of like Alfred crossed with Mr. Butlertron.

7. Monty (Deadpool)













Monty is a somewhat crippled clairvoyant and despite being basically a skeleton who has hardly seen the outside world, he's probably the most grounded and wise character in Deadpool's supporting cast, with the possible exception of Blind Al. He's the one who predicted that Deadpool would be the one to save the world and is involved with L, L, and L until Deadpool kidnaps him for some reason and then they have some zany adventures involving the Black Talon. Monty could have been a cliche of an all-knowing psychic, but he's snarky and he's generally one of the only people who can handle Deadpool. He's also a rare example of a happy ending in the Deadpool verse: he gains a new lease on life when he's thrown out a window and then he has his memory erased but eventually he gets the girl and leaves to start a new life. I think he needs to show up in the new Deadpool ongoing. DO YOU HEAR ME, WAY?

6. Weasel (Deadpool, Cable and Deadpool)














Weasel is Deadpool's best friend and tech support. They have a weird relationship: Deadpool is sometimes extremely abusive of him, but they prove their loyalty to each other time and time again. Weasel went to jail for Deadpool, and it was revealed that Deadpool TiVo'd every episode of Battlestar Galactica when he was in the slammer. One of their best interactions comes after Deadpool eviscerates Agent X:

Weasel: Oh. You spelled 'Hi Weasel' with his intestines.
Deadpool: I knew you'd peek!
Weasel: That was...kinda nice, Wade.

Sums up their relationship in a nutshell. Weasel is as adept at getting himself out of sticky situations as Deadpool is sometimes. Weasel was kidnapped by HYDRA and executed a plan which involved pretending to help HYDRA and instead equipping them all with teleporters that would take them straight to Guantanamo. He defeated HYDRA single-handedly. Granted, they're a bunch of morons, but still, they greatly outnumber him.

5. Paco and Brenda (Blue Beetle)













Paco and Brenda are Jaime's best friends and they occasionally help him out with his crime fighting. Proving you don't need some alien scarab to be a badass, this is after Brenda attacks an alien and Paco finishes him off by hitting him with a stick. The aliens have giant motherships, guns, and presumably extensive training. Two teens can take him out with a stick. They're both fearless in the face of anything and they don't have the advantage of superpowers.

4. Outlaw (Deadpool, Cable and Deadpool, Agent X)



























Outlaw is an expert markswoman with some degree of invulnerability. She's a mercenary who first briefly appears in Deadpool and then is a prominent character in Agent X. (We won't talk about how she was vastly underused and OOC in Cable/Deadpool). She's unique in that she's probably the only comics female who admits to plastic surgery. She's badass and fearless but also compassionate and empathetic to others.

3. Jaime's Family (Blue Beetle)













Jaime's parents knew about his superpowers from the start and their attempts to parent a superhero are one grounding aspect of the series. His whole family is also pretty badass. Here's a partial list:
Bianca: Confronted Guy Gardner and won, confronted Peacemaker and won, joined in the fight against the alien despite (presumably) having zero training.
Berto: Fought off aliens despite needing a cane, fought off zombie things with his cane.
Milagro: Utterly unimpressed by Guy Gardner, kept somewhat calm during an alien invasion, Boostle shipper.

I really like Jaime's family dynamic. His parents are supportive of him fighting crime and yet they still set boundaries and Jaime is respectful of those boundaries. They don't bat an eyelash at whatever comes at them. Milagro just kind of goes with the flow with what's going on, whether it be aliens or supervillains.

(Side note: I love how confused and indignant Guy looks. It took me awhile to figure it out, but I think it's because Ice is hugging Booster and not him. I can just imagine how that must be killing him. Keep smiling, Booster. Guy's gonna get his revenge one of these days.)

2. Blind Al (Deadpool)














Blind Al is blind old lady kept prisoner by Deadpool. Deadpool mocks her and plays mean tricks on her but she never backs down and she always gives as good as she gets. Deadpool needs someone in his life who doesn't let him get away with everything. Even after he went psycho she knew what she was doing and she got Deadpool to apologize to her...by being nice and doing everything he asked. She's the snarkiest old lady this side of Dorothy Zbornak, and I love her for it.

1. Bob (Cable and Deadpool, Deadpool v2)



























Bob is a HYDRA agent who was kidnapped by Deadpool. He joined HYDRA for the health plan and primarily learns how to hide from danger. He's loyal to and has a kind of hero worship for Deadpool, who treats him like a puppy who insists on following him around. He has a tendency to get hurt in his duty as Deadpool's sidekick of sorts, but this doesn't stop him from following Deadpool wherever he goes.