Midnighter and Apollo.

 

- Midnighter and Apollo. Steve Orlando, Fernando Blanco, et. al.

Midnighter: the killing machine on the side of the good. His boyfriend Apollo, a sun god. A vengeful criminal willing to make deals with demons. And a long-forgotten pioneering gay sorcerer... These elements will collide in an explosive, exciting --and surprisingly touching action yarn.

Extraordinarily fun comic that manages to mix the wide-screen gory violence of the characters' early Image / Wildstorm days with long-running DC history. From the excellent use of criminally underrated characters like Extraño and the Tasmanian Devil (the one of the Global Guardians, mind!), to a final page that doesn't just reference but challenges Alan Moore's infamous "Whatever happened to the man of tomorrow?" --the result is the kind of explosive, unforgiving gay superhero fantasy we've so long waited for.

Quite recommended. 

 

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August 2022 extra.

 *

Also watched / read: 

ANIMATED TV SHOWS

- Dead End: Paranormal Park. 

Terrific all-ages mystery with horror touches, notable also for a trans gay boy being one of the leads. Based on a webcomic (that is, shall we say, intended for an older audience). Good atmosphere and intriguing plot.

- The legend of the three caballeros. 

Something of a cult show, or perhaps a bridge between 90’s Disney cartoons (off-the-wall approaches to classic characters) and their current-day counterparts (a more cynical humor and a teensy bit of envelope-pushing). Very entertaining. 

COMICS

- DC Pride 2022.

- DC Pride: Tim Drake Special. 

- Marvel Voices:  Pride (2022).

- Marvel Voices: Indigenous Voices. 

- Marvel Voices: Heritage.

- Marvel Voices: Comunidades. 

Assorted anthologies from the ‘big two’ (re: mainstream American superhero comics) centered on minorities —three about queer characters, two about Native American characters, one about Latino characters. All offer a welcome variety in their approaches to themes and representation. All feel like they could have gone much farther, but it is very much a step in the right direction.

MOVIES

- Black Panther. (Re-watched)

Holds up remarkably well less as representative of the by now bloated genre of live action superhero movies —than as the film that brought Afrofuturism to the mainstream. Still worth at least one watch. 

*

The Snagglepuss Chronicles

 

- Exit stage left: The Snaglepuss chronicles. By Mark Russell, Mike Feehan, et at. 

In 1953, famous playwright Snaglepuss is enjoying a hugely successful life as an American Cultural Icon. Even a preliminary hearing from the deranged House of Un-American Activities Committee could not do much to soil his reputation. But evil does not rest easily —and it has already hit so many of his personal friends and colleagues. It has claimed the life of his best friend. Now he must engage in a final battle not for himself but for dignity of gays all across the world…

What at first seems a bizarre attempt to bring famous cartoon characters to a world frighteningly resembling ours soon reveals itself as one of the best comics in years. The most memorable examinations of past eras are not only about the period being examined but about the era in which they are written. As Miller writes “The Crucible” ostensibly about the witch-hunts in Salem —but truly to critique the many crimes of McCarthysm, then this comic examines 50’s cold war paranoia to staunchly expose several contemporary (this comic was collected in 2018) attitudes. Say, the anti-kink discourse demanding that gays present a squeaky-clean image for ‘respectability’, not unlike a 50’s senator deflecting her guilt in causing the suicide of an important literary figure. “I never intended… if he had just kept it private…”. Cowards always blame everyone but themselves. 

In this study of 50’s gay life, Snaglepuss is almost an answer to that other legendary furry comic about the 50’s — Blacksad. And as Blacksad’s one flaw was its timid portrayal of gay and generally queer issues, then Snaglepuss corrects that one grave omission. That it uses a famous pink panther character (one of a few, you could argue) in contrast to the also famous black cat is remarkably fitting —a cherry on top, if you will. 

And there is so much more to discuss about this comic —about the alternate history of a world where humans and furries exist side by side (the author kindly includes a few historical notes at the ending). Or about the meta-textual presentation of theater, television, and eventually cartoons (in a comic). But all are best served by you reading and discussing this comic. 

In sort, quite recommended. 

*

Pride 1: Cheat(er) Code.

- Cheat(er) Code. S. A. Foxe, et al

Kennedy has just been dumped by boyfriend of many years —and is not entirely accepting it. Seeking solace he first turns to dating apps, then to Video Games. Until a freak storm transports him to the actual world of VGs! Peopled with many of his favorite characters, who seem quite interested in him. But there is another layer to this world, a layer in which Kennedy will have to face a few things he kept refusing to see…

Extraordinary fantasy for adults, running several recognizable VG franchises and porn parodies through a blender, and adding a good deal of self-exploration, care and healing. By turns naughty and poignant, this comic is more than worth a few looks. 

In many ways it’s an updating of common Fantasy archetypes, from the quest for personal identity to the use of familiar character types. Herein, presented for gay 21st century sensibilities, aiming at late twenty somethings and older. A delight from start to finish. 

*

Golden Kamuy, vol. 15

 

- Golden Kamuy, vol. 15. Satoru Noda.

A journey to the hostile region of Karafuto, a region of wild animals, extreme cold --and Russian combats. Wherein the cast will face certain revelations about themselves...

The extraordinary saga of Golden Kamuy continues with the characters spread into smaller groups and facing several twists of fate that will also force them to confront painful truths. Be it Sugimoto and his perceived failure to protect his loved ones, or Ashirpa seeing the terrible conditions in which her people are forced to live, or Tsukishima reckoning with the numerous times he was lied to and manipulated in the past...

But GK always knows its audience, and so homoerotism is never in short supply. A love for male bodies, or combat as a special kind of art therapy, say.

We shall watch these fascinating characters evolve through a chain of harsh adventures.

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November tv shows (and comics)

TV SHOWS

LIVE ACTION

- I know what you did last summer. 

New adaptation of the YA novel and of the 90’s slasher film series… it has virtually nothing in common with any of them. On its own it's one of many recent tv series recreating slashers of yore (Scream. Slasher. Scream Queens. AHS: 1984). This one is low on suspense but rather high on shock value. 

- Harlan Coben’s Into the woods. 

Somewhat ordinary thriller that by coincidence itself delves into slasher shenanigans every so often. 

ANIMATED

- Devilman Crybaby. 

The newest adaptation of Go Nagai’s notorious shocker, aiming to go even further with the sex and violence formula. 

- Masters of the universe: Revelations. (Volume 2) 

Fairly entertaining continuation of the 80’s cartoon. 

BOOKS

- DC Pride. 

- Marvel Voices: Pride. 

- Chilling Adventures in Sorcery. 

- The problem of Susan and others. 

- Wonder Girl: Adventures of a teen titan.

Assorted comic book anthologies. The first two centered on Queer characters, the second on Horror, the third on Fantasy, and the fourth on a legacy character. On the whole, a good sampling of the many possibilities of Mainstream American comics. 

WEBCOMICS: 

- Big Ethel Energy. 

One of the best current-era Archie Comics properties. 

- FoxTrot. 

- xkcd. 

Two regular humor strips…

- Sleepless Domain. 

One excellent dark fantasy yarn…

- AJ & Magnus. 

One strip that can’t quite seem to decide if it wants to be for adults or for children…

- Oglaf. 

- Debuffed. 

Two excellent comics for adults…

- SundayHaw. 

- Foxes in love. 

- Ty-Pesh.

Three very good furry comics for all ages…

- Wilson. 

- Convergence.

- The Island. 

And three other furry comics for adults only!

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The other history of the DC universe, V.

The other history of the DC universe, vol. 5. 

V: 1981 - 2010: Anissa Pierce. 

- John Ridley, et al

The fifth and final volume tells us the tale of Anissa, eldest daughter of Jefferson (alias Black Lightning), who under the name Thunder became a super heroine in her own right. Aiming to be role model for queer women of color everywhere, Anissa had to grapple with a very different world that the one her father swore to defend, while dealing with judgment from past generations —including her own family. 

A very rare case of a volume that both makes a nice bookend with the first of the series and is a more than fine tale on its own right. The Pierces, parents and daughters, help illustrate the shifting state of the world from the second half of the twentieth century to the early twenty-first. Where Jefferson used his religious morals as a shield against the injustice of the world, Anissa questions those morals. “People’d used the word of the Lord to justify slavery. Dad had no excuse for using the same to justify his zealotry”. 

This volume, more than the previous four, delves as much into Superhero anecdotes as into real-life events. But twenty-first century DC comics, starting circa 2003, took a turn for the considerably more violent and exploitative. “I literally cannot describe what 36 burnt humans looks like.” A reflection of the increasingly difficult world that produces them. 

Pop culture is here used not just as a reference point, but as identity signals. Anissa reminisces about attending a Prince concert with her sister, while they were on their teens: “As amazing as the music was, the way he celebrated sexuality and androgyny, and the way he disregarded labels, is what attracted me to him as an artist. Back then, when I was still struggling with identity, people like Prince gave me permission to just create my own”. 

The world changes as time goes by, and so do we. New generations come, sometimes bringing conflict and sometimes repeating the same mistakes we did, under new terms. But sometimes, it’s this passage of time that gives clarity to the past and lets us face the present (and the idea of the future) with courage. Through these five volumes, Ridley and collaborators have created a unique and quite necessary tale to remind us the importance of thinking outside the box as it were. 

*

The other history of the DC universe, IV.

The other history of the DC universe, vol. 4. 

IV: 1992 - 2007. Renee Montoya. 

- John Ridley, et al

For the fourth volume, we return to a very famous place —Gotham City, as seen through the eyes of policewoman-turned-superhero Montoya. An unflinching, uncompromising, and so very queer look!

This is another volume that garnered strange comments from the kind of fans who obsess over minutiae and continuity, always a rather peculiar notion in the kind of product that by definition is never in any fixed timeline despite often bromidic reassurances from marketing. In this case, complains about Montoya not acting in a perfect way —for all that it’s a story about and against the very notion of white-washing. 

It asks us not to take what we have been told for granted. Starting with the infamous alliance between Batman and Jim Gordon —what makes us think it’s not constantly under vigilance? (“Gordon volunteered to work as a liaison between the department and the Bat. That was fine for the brass. With Gordon they had a trusted cop to keep an eye on the Bat, and a fall guy if things went south”). Or the rich characters we are used to seeing as heroes or innocents (“The Drakes and the St. Clouds and the Elliots. The Kanes and the Waynes. Their wealth was built largely on copper mines and steel mills. But mostly it was built on the backs of the men and women and sometimes children who toiled under the earth and beside the blistering smelting cauldrons of the moneyed class”). Gotham as neither a place of wacky adventures nor a surreal hell —merely a big city like so many, except that this one wears its problems on its sleeve. 

This unflinching look from Montoya extends to herself, as she takes us through her absolute worst moments —but in order to emerge not just stronger on the other side, but as her true self. That she openly admits her own flaws, some previously stated and some new, seems to be what most bothered a few longtime readers. This bizarre demand for minority characters, especially Queer ones, to be absolutely perfect and to never do any wrong. This peculiar insistence to forget that it was always the fringe of society that first took us in, that is our true land. 

Once Renee embraces her true self we see the theme of the superhero not so much as a power fantasy but as an act of liberation (“The mask’s lack of features and the suit and tie that amounted to a costume added an element of queerness to my character. It went against the notion that everything must fit a label that already exists. To the contrary of that, there is something about placing yourself beyond definition”). 

A story, then about embracing one’s true self, flaws and all. Not the squeaky-clean others, inside and outside the tale, would want us to be, but ourselves as we are. Something quite necessary to keep in mind, always.

* 

My lesbian experience with loneliness

- My lesbian experience with loneliness. Nagata Kabi. Twenty-eight-years-old Nagata. College drop-out. Subsisting on temporary jobs while trying to break into professional manga publishing. Wrestling with a profoundly-set depression. Only barely starting to come out of the closet. About to lose her virginity to a call-girl. And completely unknown to her, about to take the world by storm…

Phenomenal autobiographical comic. And, without intending to be so, part of a recent wave of gay manga that break away from the conventional, often troublesome established genres (Yaoi and Yuuri, Boy’s Love…) to present instead frank, candid, sincere portrayals of queer life in Japan. In this case, the comic is so frank it does not shy away from the ugliest parts of depression —actually, for casual readers, I should mention a certain TRIGGER WARNING —for depiction of self-harm and suicidal thoughts. 

But this is not a story that wallows in misery. Rather, it’s a tale of finding hope through breaking the barriers that others have imposed on us for so long we’ve come to think they are normal. As she embraces her true personality, Nagata comes face-to-face with several universal truths. The profound lack of sex education that gay people face everywhere in the world to this very date, for example —and this, without trying at all to be universal. She presents her own experiences as-is, and in this way hits on universal themes that resonate with readers from all walks of life. 

Very much recommended. 

*

Two boys kissing

- Two boys kissing. David Levithan. Craig and Harry were boyfriends; then they became best friends, which one of them believes is better and the other does not. Right now they are getting ready for an amazing project: Kissing for thirty-two hours, twelve minutes and ten seconds in their schoolyard, to set a new world record. Tariq is setting up the video feed for their kiss —he knows this idea started when he himself was gay-bashed not that long ago. Peter and Neil are watching the kiss in live stream, even as they deal with their own relationship problems. Avery and Ryan have only just met and hear about the kiss on the radio, even as they struggle with how much of themselves they should reveal. Cooper is not aware of the kiss; he’s too busy flirting endlessly online, unaware of the major crisis heading his way. And watching over all these ‘baby gays’ is the collective consciousness of their elders —the gay generation that was almost entirely lost to AIDS…

A remarkable and sweet YA novel; once again, it’s the kind of book I wish I myself had read as a teenager. The choral narrator is a very effective touch. The characters are a touch schematic (though I did like one of them casually being revealed to be Trans), and the narration now and then gets inappropriately moralizing (such as when it tries to posit that platonic affection is always better than a purely sexual relationship or that progress is always a direct line —i.e., that all times past were at least al little worse and therefore all times to come will automatically be better). In these moments the author seems a bit too overly aware that he’s writing for teenagers. But the book overcomes these flaws when it focuses more on the characters’ sentimental journeys. And at the best moments, the narration is almost poetic in its descriptions. 

Overall, quite recommended. 

*

Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe

- Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe. Benjamin Alire Sáenz. 

In the summer of 1987, Aristotle Mendoza, aka Ari, is dealing with his tense family situation and the perspective of another lonely, bitter summer. But in the first day he meets free-spirited Dante Quintana. And so begins an intense friendship that across a year will take both boys on a journey of self-discovery. Of sorting out their complex feelings about their Mexican-American heritage, about their parents, the society they live in —and their blooming love for each other. 

Terrific YA gay romance set in 80’s El Paso, Texas. Peopled with unforgettable characters and told in a deceivingly sparse prose that perfectly captures the thought processes of teenagers then and now, this is the kind of book that we adult readers wish we could have read when we were ourselves teenagers. And that contemporary kids, one hopes, will get plenty out of. 

Quite recommended. 

*

Drama

- Drama. Raina Telgemeier. Middle-school student Callie has one definite passion in life: Musical theater. Though she can’t sing or act on stage, she is an enthusiastic set designer. But this year’s school production comes with a new complication: Boys. Balancing drama both on and off-stage is complicated enough without having to deal with malfunctioning stage props and assorted questionings of one’s sexuality…

Charming YA drama with memorable, vividly drawn characters and a script that (not unlike good stage-plays) subtly hints at a much larger world beyond our protagonist’s journey. There are several ongoing conflicts that are only hinted at though Callie’s eyes, even as she herself navigates both technical challenges and assorted crushes. Telgemeier’s clean art style is a delight to look at. By the time one reaches the last page, we wish we could stay in this novel’s world for just a bit longer…

In general, a recommended comic, both for pre-teens and older readers. 

Blast from the past!

*

NOTE: This review originally appeared in my Tumblr account. As they attempted to censor it, here it is, in its entirety: 

- Best Gay Erotica 2001. Eds., Randy Boyd & Richard Labonté. A selection of twenty-two short stories (well, a couple of them are excerpts from longer works), illustrating the general panorama of gay erotica at the end of the past millennium. The selection is pleasantly varied, ranging from straight-forward one-handed reading to more intricate literary pieces (crisscrossing with the likes of Sci-fi, Noir, Period drama, Poetry in prose, even Metafiction!) to real-life confessionals. The respective introductions by the editors provide a nice glimpse into the selective process as well. 

Of the stories themselves, my personal favorites were “You need a boy”, by Dough Harrison and “Onyx”, by Felice Picano. The first being a skillfully narrated, suitably intense account of an introduction to S&M scenarios; the second, a seduction scene distilled to it’s most powerful moments. There is enough variety and quality for both causal readers and more discerning treasure seekers. Overall recommended.

*