Biopropellent

I just love Cass and Steph. There are a bunch of female superheroes that I love, but the two Batgirls are rare in that they don't have to dress like skanks. I've stated a few times that Cass's costume is my favourite and while I'm not a huge fan of the Spoiler costume (I like Steph's Batgirl costume a lo

t more) I do have to appreciate that Steph's not all boobs and legs in it (plus I think she's about 16 here so...that would be creepy). Cass is definitely one of the most formidable superheroes in the DCU (I'm pretty sure she defeated Shiva which is...not that easy) and even Batman respects her. Steph is less so but she tries hard and genuinely works to become better. Why did these girls not have their own series together? Come on, DC.

I have almost no memory of this storyline. I think it was from Superman/Batman but I'm not even

really sure of that. If it was, it's from the post-Jeph Loeb era where nothing makes sense anymore. I just appreciate the stuttering robot calling the other robot an asshole.

This is from Cable and Deadpool. I read this last year and then again really recently. I had NO memory of Shatterstar's one panel appearance. I love him and his three ponytails. My only exposure to X-Force is from whenever they show up in Deadpool and when Boom Boom/Meltdown/Tabby was on Nextwave. I don't know what it is, but every time I see them I just get the feeling that they're X-Men rejects who want desperately to be taken seriously but they can't. I mean come on: Shatterstar has three ponytails and wears boxing headgear, Cannonball(s) wears aviator goggles, and Siryn has some kind of weird cape thingie attached to her wrists. I don't even know what Cannonball's power is. He says he's a "biopropellent" and it appears that fire comes out of his ass and makes him fly. What a great power.

Awesome armour is awesome

I'm not a huge fan of Tony but LOOK AT THAT. He gets plopped down in a pacifist, non-

technological village with like, a broken leg and shit, and he makes steam powered armour to fight an assassin. He may be an asshole, but you can't deny he has style.

This is simultaneously creepy and adorable.

Wow Ted. That is...some outfit. Like someone on Scans Daily said "Those outfits undoubtedly cost a lot of money, which means that Ted thinks he's oh so fashionable." He needs some fashion advice from someone. Maybe Batman.

Luke Cage is the Man

Somehow I don't think that's the way that sentence was going to end.

"Don't know what you were aimin' for, but..."

"Yeah man. I can feel it too. It works!"

"No, no, I was gonna say..."

"That I look AWESOME?"

"No, more along the lines of..."

"Luke Cage is the man?"

*Sigh* "Never mind."

I love how when faced with looking at Jason Blood's junk, Arsenal looks away in embarrassment, Canary looks like she's trying to let him maintain his decency and look away but is actually not so secretly looking, and Batman faces him down bravely, afraid of nothing.

I LOVE the B.A.D. girls. I wikied them, and they've only appeared a handful of other times, with the exception of Rachel (Diamondback) who pops up every so often in other stuff. I love how they can be so professional and "grr SRS BSNS" but at other times they say things like "poop." They need their own series ASAP.

I'm the Goddamn Batman

I'm always unsure whether or not to recommend All-Star Batman. It's really, really bad, but it's also kind of hilarious. So I'm like, "Read it! It sucks a lot! " and then people get confused.
























Anyway, here's the original image. Now, I'm not a Batman expert or anything, but I don't think Batman would ever say "retarded."

What I enjoy about this meme is that various writers have incorporated it and made fun of it, much like how everyone makes fun of Rob Liefeld now (which will come later). Like Gail Simone in Birds of Prey:

















My favourite instance of this meme is in an issue of Superman/Batman. Chibi versions of the Justice League are let loose in our world, and the little Batman is just as angsty as his big counterpart.















But poor chibi!Batman doesn't get to even finish the sentence. Big Batman is thinking, "Goddammit, it was ONE TIME, and no one ever lets me forget it!"

Another example of writers being aware of their audience is when they make fun of Rob Liefeld, which is pretty much all the time.














From Fabian Nicieza's Cable/Deadpool, this isn't strictly an example, but everyone knows that Rob Liefeld loves his pouches. He can't not have been thinking about Liefeld when he wrote this.














From (I believe) Jimmy Palmiotti's run on Deadpool, we have the two old ladies who offer Deadpool the use of a very big and complicated gun called the Liefelder.

And most blatantly of all:














On Daniel Way's run on Deadpool, he actually turns and addresses Rob Liefeld, making fun of his obsession with pouches.

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.

"Knock knock?" "Who's there?" BOOM.

I'm in a crappy mood, so today will be pictures that make me happy.















It's...it's...DEADPOOL SKRULLS!

If I remember this storyline correctly, they genetically engineered these Skrulls from Deadpool's DNA. So the question that I have is, is that their skin or did they make a bunch of Deadpool costumes for the new Skrulls?

















Not only are there dinosaurs in downtown Manhattan, which is awesome enough, but they are infected with the Carnage symbiote. CARNAGE DINOSAURS. MY BRAIN IS EXPLODING FROM AWESOME.

















Dick Grayson is the first Robin and we share a name (Robin, not Dick) so I've always felt fond of him. Which is why I'm glad he grew up so well!

I'm just trying to ignore the little Robin screaming on the left there.
















I love how Hawkman looks all stoic and Ted and Booster are just beaming. I LOVE THOSE TWO.

Warm Fuzzies

It's Friday, it's freezing, and I have a crapload of homework due next week...I NEED SOMETHING ADORABLE.















LOOK AT THE LITTLE BABY DC CHARACTERS! From left to right we have some chick I don't know, Cyborg, Beast Boy, some other chick I don't know. Bottom row: Red Arrow, possibly, The Flash, Robin, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman. I just want to pick up Aquaman and hug him.

















I love how cartoony this is. This is a glimpse inside Cable's mind, so I don't know what that says about him. That he's secretly a child? Who knows. Dom looks amazing in this design.















Awww, Deuce! I would have included Sandi's cat in the general love for adorable creatures, but I've seen that thing eat monster brains, so I can't really look at it in the same way. Left is Pete Woods' work, middle is Udon, right is possibly Pete Woods again but I can't remember. You know, in one fell swoop in Deadpool they got rid of all my favourite characters: Al, Weasel, Monty, Deuce...damn you, Kelly. Then Christopher Priest came in and made it worse BUT THAT IS A RANT FOR ANOTHER DAY.














Who knew the Skrulls could actually be cute with their bizarre corrugated chins? I want one for my very own. You know, without the invading and killing part.

Costumes I Like

You know how when you see a complete badass character doing something awesomely badass, and it just makes you so happy because IT'S AWESOME?
















This image did it for me. I absolutely love his redesign. Tasky's moved away from the over the top drama of his old costume and personality and turned into more of an antihero (or anti-villain, depending on how you want to look at it). I'm not too sure why I like the hoodie so much, but I do. It's so refreshing after the primary coloured spandex of old.

Also refreshing:

















Cassandra Cain's costume! Could it be? No belly button? No HH boobs? No mask that fails to conceal your identity AT ALL (I'm looking at you, Ms. Marvel)? No cleavage out the ying yang? I just...this fails to compute. But I kind of love it.

I wish I could take the first panel out of context and remove the word bubble. Then it's just her looking very confused (inasmuch as a person whose face is concealed can look confused) and holding a Wonder Woman doll.

But my favourite costume of all time has to be...

















Ha, I'm just kidding, I just put that in to make you feel uncomfortable.

That would be Deadpool, who refused to help the X-Men unless he got to wear Marvel Girl's costume. Fun fact: he was originally supposed to be wearing this costume the whole issue, but the artist didn't want to draw any more of that than he had to, and the writers decided it wouldn't be funny for that long.

I love Beast's reaction. Just the facepalm and calmly correcting Deadpool's assumptions.
"He'll change his mind, right Hank?"
"Give it six seconds, Scott."
"That's an eternity right now."

All together now: awwwwwwwwwww

When people think "comic books" they don't generally think of them as particularly heartwarming. But a surprising number of comics give the warm fuzzies.















This takes place after Booster goes back in time to save Ted Kord from death, and then Ted realizes he has to die to make the timeline normal again, and dies all over again. Booster gives up on his mission and snaps at the JLA and everyone who likes him. Batman decides to take things into his own hands and give Booster a pep talk and then offers to be there for him, even though he's not Ted. Who knew Batman had empathy for others? I halfway thought Batman didn't even have any emotions. It was probably the second sweetest (and best) thing anyone had ever done for Booster, the first being when Rip brought Michelle back from the dead. I particularly like the extra touch of having Batman's sympathetic face reflected in Booster's goggles.

















Booster and Beetle's narration about each other sometimes seems like it should be narmy (especially when it gets on the homoerotic side) but it still works, because it's so sweet! "I barely know him [the future Blue Beetle] and yet I owe him everything. Because my best friend is back."

















This is after Deadpool and the Avengers and Fantastic Four and others fight the Carnage dinos, and Deadpool finally realizes what it is to be a hero. The panels are a throwback to the opening of Cable/Deadpool showing just how far Deadpool has come from the lonely and bitter bastard we started out with. Now he has friends and he's learned how to be a friend. The fact that they're watching Golden Girls is, of course, a shout out to Deadpool's well-known love of Bea Arthur. And the TV going "thank you for being a friend" is a great shout out to Deadpool finally being a friend to people. It's the perfect ending to a fantastic comic.

Friggin' Sweet

Historically, girls get the short end of the stick in comics. There's the costumes, which I covered before. Then there's the whole "women in refrigerators" thing. Then there's the fact that they never do anything cool, ever. But every so often, you find some really cool women in comics.


















Look at this woman from Birds of Prey whose name I can't remember right now. This is one of the most awesome panels I've seen in my life. She's wearing this Stormtrooper-esque armour with a BIG ASS GUN. After their train was detoured to some place that might be Hell, she is one of the only people to stay calm and do what needs to be done. She's all, "take cover, gentlemen. This is THE big gun." Love her.















I like the fact that after becoming a cripple, the artists resisted making Barbara into an ugly shell of her former self. It must be hard writing a crippled character who is hardly seen outside that one room, but the former Batgirl has an actual personality and does actual stuff (like swimming, working out, and going on dates with a surprisingly buff Dick Grayson). You can't deny it: Oracle's pretty badass. She took out a bunch of dudes single-handedly while in a wheelchair, and she's probably the best hacker in the DCU. And look how pretty she is here! Love it.

















HOLY GOD THERE IS A FEMALE DEADPOOL AND SHE IS WAY MORE AWESOME THAN I WOULD HAVE EXPECTED LIEFELD CAPABLE OF DRAWING! Look how amazing she is! She's so funny. Her boobs look a little wonked up, but I will ignore that because she is hilarious. I need more of her, STAT.
















I really loved Dom's design in Cable and Deadpool. Putting aside the fact that spot on her eye makes her resemble Petey from Our Gang, I loved her haircut and her badass black outfit. She also got a lot more character development than the other side characters of Cable/Deadpool when she had various moral dilemmas. She's pretty awesome.














Blind Al is possibly my favourite female character EVER. She has crazy ass hair and awesome wardrobe, and is one of the only people who can match wits with Deadpool. She's a cantankerous old lady who is forced to live with Deadpool and actually got him to APOLOGIZE to her. That's pretty difficult when the person you're dealing with has no conscience.

I also deeply, deeply appreciate the fact that they make t-shirts specifically for blind people.

Nothing But Vomit

I know what you're thinking. "Oh, it's just Cable throwing up. I'm tough, that doesn't gross me out." No. Cable had to absorb Deadpool so Deadpool's healing factor could save him from the T-O virus taking over, and Deadpool needed bodily fluids from Cable to save him from being melted by Anton Kruch's virus thing. What Cable's puking up right there? That would be liquefied Deadpool. Yummy.















That poor rat. What did it ever do to you, Dick Grayson (age 12)? This one's pretty disgusting in and of itself, but context makes it worse. Batman has locked Robin inside the Bat Cave and refused to give him anything to eat. Thus, he is forced to eat that rat that Robin killed with an axe. Would you want a 12 year old wielding an axe? I wouldn't. The panel below is after Robin eats half the raw rat and then pukes. Jim Lee treats us to a VERY close closeup of Robin's pukey mouth and hand. I'm very close to gagging right now after being forced to look at that picture for so long. I'm not sure I could ever be hungry enough to eat a raw animal. I would probably start eating the rubber off the (goddamn) Batmobile's tires before I would eat a raw, rabies infested rat.

Edit: I just saw that I had a document called "robinpuking" and I was momentarily confused, wondering when I was puking and why I had a picture of it. Then I realized the picture was of Dick Grayson, age 12 up there.

I assumed that puking in the comics was kind of rare, but I guess not that rare:















I find it interesting that the vomit is the exact same orangey/yellow colour as Robin's. Apparently they eat the same things in the DCU and the Marvel Universe. I also enjoy the sound effects. Robin goes "blaaaaarg" but I much prefer the "hh--WWOORK!" this anonymous guy is doing. He has style, although Cable's giving his all with the "BLEUURGF" in the first picture.