Marvel's apologists predictably defend entombing the Silver Surfer for sake of a gender-swapped protagonist, and a political metaphor

Superhero Hype is defending and sugarcoating the death of the Silver Surfer for the sake of a female replacement, claiming it was all "fitting", and making matters worse is that this story has a leftist political metaphor for illegal immigration:

Marvel Comics has just killed off one of its most powerful heroes. In many ways, this is unsurprising, given a giveaway title. However, the hero in question, long associated with the Fantastic Four, did die a worthy death.

The death came in the closing pages of Death of the Silver Surfer #5 by Greg Pak, Sumit Kumar, and Tiago Palma. The series has centered around the growing madness of billionaire Dennis Harmon. A tech magnate, Harmon had used his fortune to outright purchase the American agency B.A.N., the Bureau of Alien Neutralization.

Under Harmon’s direction, B.A.N. began trying to forcibly remove all aliens from Earth rather than fighting hostile alien invaders. However, while hating all superhumans, Harmon held a special hostility for the alien hero Norrin Radd. This culminated in him attempting to open a cosmic rift that he hoped would disintegrate the Silver Surfer. However, the rift threatened to devour the whole Earth in the process as the Fantastic Four and Avengers watched helplessly.

What Fantastic Four character was killed off by Marvel?

With a title like “Death of the Silver Surfer,” it was a foregone conclusion that Norrin Radd would meet his end by the series’ close. The only question was just how he would die. Ultimately, Radd died by sacrificing himself to close the rift from the inside. However, with his final act, he bequeathed the Power Cosmic to B.A.N. Agent Kelly Koh.

And this is why they believe the "death" of Norrin, even if it'll eventually be reversed, is "worthy"? Wow, to think that a metaphor for people like Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and problems with illegal immigration would actually and instantly make this whole shoddy direction justified. What they say is something only somebody who never cared for the comics creations would say.

Koh had shared Dennis Harmon’s hatred of aliens and superheroes. However, she lost all faith in the righteousness of her mission when faced with Radd’s endless compassion for his enemies and Harmon’s indifference to random people dying in the pursuit of his vendetta. In the end, she joined with Norrin Raad to save innocent lives. However, the series’ ending makes it clear she is not ready to join forces with the Fantastic Four or Earth’s other heroes.

There is a symmetry in Norrin Radd’s death. Once, he sacrificed all he was to save his home-world of Zenn-La. As the Silver Surfer, he defied Galactus to save Earth and became a cosmic hero. It seems fitting then that he should die defending the world that made him a hero. It is also worthy that his final act was changing a former enemy into a hero that would follow his example.

And I guess all the hostile aliens Radd fought in past tales, not the least being Galactus himself, weren't worth the effort? Sigh. This is such tommyrot, and the way they talk about aliens already on earth as though they themselves couldn't possibly have hostile ones among them is insulting to the intellect. One of the respondents in the comments section saw through this awful mess, and said:

It started off decent, but finished terribly. This mini series was definitely trying to get you to sympathize with those that violate our nation's sovereignty. What a horrible message, a new horrible character, and a horrible ending. I don't think this took place in the 616 universe, as the Surfer has been appearing in some other comic series. Hopefully this is the last we see of this again or the new character that nobody wants.

Well it's not that nobody wants the character, but that nobody wants her being forced into roles where she doesn't stand on her own. That's the problem with how this newest character with an alliterative name was "created"; she doesn't stand on her own as a result. Another said:

Ah. Ok. So ... the villains are basically caricatures of ICE and Trump.

Brilliant.

We need more Leftist propagandizing in the comics. There isn't nearly enough.

What it proves is that, under C.B. Cebulski, the far-left rhetoric that was present when Joe Quesada and Axel Alonso were Marvel's editors never went away. It's the same situation at DC. Nor do they discourage their writers and artists from engaging in this kind of mishmash. The same people who say AI's a problem have no interest in preventing heavy-handed political metaphors from being shoved into their comics, and if AI came up with a far-left political tale, they quite likely wouldn't have a problem with that either, so long as it followed their specific political narratives. Worst, as Superhero Hype's writer makes clear, he won't ask them to tone down the politics either, and that's exactly why these embarrassments will keep going, including the "sacrificial lamb" mentality that's now resulted in a story where the Silver Surfer's sent into the afterlife for the sake of a poorly written metaphor.

Jason Aaron made sure to stealth some leftist commentary into Ninja Turtles before he left it

CBR's sugarcoating Jason Aaron's Ninja Turtles run at IDW, which is now reportedly ending, and it sounds from the following like he made sure to sneak some leftist rhetoric into the scripts before departing:

Jason Aaron and Juan Ferreyra's run on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came to a close this week, and it both nicely resolved their particular run, while also setting up the book well for the incoming creative team, which was a nice treat to pull off, but it also marks a really impressive feat by Aaron in his twelve issues to both tell a strong overarching plot while still having each individual issue stand alone on its own, both as an individual issue, but also as interesting commentary on modern society. [...]

As noted, one of the things that is the most impressive in Aaron's run is how much each issue explored certain universal topics while also tying them all in into the theme of, well, you know, talking turtles who fight crime using ninja weapons. I noted this in some of my past reviews of the series, particularly Leonardo's visit to the Ganges river to visit the turtles of the area, which brought up some interesting questions of what it means to be a "turtle" when you walk and talk (and fight crime). Also, the bit in the second issue where Aaron cleverly explains how mastering the Nunchuks means that Michaelangelo INHERENTLY works on beating himself up constantly. That's the sort of sharp observations that Aaron has been doing in these comics.

However, he has also done a good job exploring the very idea of modern-day fascism. What freedoms are people willing to surrender to feel "safe?" Would you let the military invade your city to make you feel "safe"? Well, what about the Foot Clan? Meanwhile, how easily can the public be swayed by disinformation? Can you make the world turn on the Turtles, these heroes who have done nothing but protect New York City? I made a post a while back about how Silver Age Superman and Marshal Matt Dillon had a lot in common, as both of them were heroes who constantly saved their cities, and yet their cities would always turn on them at the slightest provocation. And we saw that happen in this story to the Turtles, as well, and they were framed so well that they had to escape into New Jersey!

However, in a clever recent issue from the perspective of the villainous District Attorney Hale (who is working with the Foot Clan), we see how fairness sure looks like an attack when you're inherently UNfair like Hale. In addition, the people of New York City finally came through for the Turtles, and when the RATS of New York City chipped in, Hale was able to be proven as the monster he really was, and the Turtles' names were all cleared. We have seen Hale be monstrous for so long, but at the end of the last issue, after he confronted Karai, the new head of the Foot Clan, she turned him from a figurative monster into a REAL one, and so now, the subtext has become outright text.

I'm sure that district attorney isn't an allusion to Alvin Bragg. For all we know, the Hale character could be an allusion to some of the more prominent legal staff in Donald Trump's government, or even the chief justices he appointed, like Brett Kavanaugh. And the Foot Clan's supposed to be a stand-in for the USA military? As if the metaphors couldn't get twisted and insulting enough. Unfortunately, when these propagandists talk about modern "fascism", you can't be shocked if what they really believe to be so is only right-wingers. The Ninja Turtles story in focus was quite possibly written up as a last-minute attack on Trump's employment of military to arrest illegal immigrants, and in California, regrettably, said interlopers rioted violently and even attacked ICE offices. One can only wonder if Aaron believes anybody who reads his comics won't see them as disinformation.

If Aaron's stopped writing Ninja Turtles, that's good, but whoever's in charge of the franchise now has seen to it they're destined to be one of the most damaged products for years to come, at least until they presumably become public domain later in the century. For all we know, it may make little difference what publisher acquires the license, whether current IDW, or even Dark Horse and Image; what matters is that they're unlikely to produce Ninja Turtles comics devoid of political bias, subtle or otherwise, because the owners are unlikely to veto anything divisive in the name of "creative freedom" they're unlikely to provide for a conservative-leaning writer. Maybe if Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman's estates could buy back the ownership, improvement could be made, but for now, it's doubtful.

A columnist who believed only black women should write Riri Williams, during 2016

I discovered an article on Ebony from 2016 where a writer was pushing the aggravatingly woke propaganda that it should be black women who should write a character like Riri Williams, who was only created in the pages of Iron Man for diversity-pandering at the time, and even pushed the bizarre perception the mainstream industry's literally not open to black women. I don't think I'd ever written about this item before, so I guess I'll take a look at it now, if only to make a point why it's monumentally dated in its "argument":

I was 19 when I bought my first comic book. I had always loved them from afar—comics were the modern day Greek mythology, and superheroes were the gods that I wanted to hear about, time and time again. The most popular superheroes are household names—Superman, Batman, Captain America—and are supposed to represent our best selves. They inspire us to what we can be.

It took me until I was 19 to gather the courage to enter the comic books shop and purchase a physical copy of my own because of one vital fact: The comics industry is not an accepting place for Black girls and women. In fact, when you’re a young Black girl, there’s a very small list of heroes we can claim as our own, as one of us.

It's been years since this was written, but curious how the article made no mention of Storm from X-Men, or even Misty Knight, the lady with the bionic arm provided her by Tony Stark in the mid-1970s when she premiered, and I can't help but wonder if any omission of them from the article was deliberate, and possibly coming from somebody who, despite her claim to the contrary, isn't the avid comics reader she claims to be, and maybe she only began reading a decade ago. What good is that if the history she's gathered is only of recent? Also unmentioned is the 2nd Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau, and even civilian characters like Glory Grant can count. What's interesting about this puff piece though, is that the writer doesn't seem to like Brian Bendis, his leftism notwithstanding:

When Marvel announced their latest superhero was going to be a 15-year-old Black girl named Riri Williams, I wanted to be excited. And I was. But after learning more about her and the people who would be guiding her to the forefront, my excitement quickly turned into sadness and frustration.

Riri’s announcement into the world concerned me. This 15-year-old was being heralded “a woman” in mainstream write-ups popping up online, adding to the all-too-real issues of hypersexualizing Black girls. But what was even more disturbing was learning about the creative team behind her. Led by writer Brian Michael Bendis, not one of the people responsible for bringing RiRi to life was Black women.

This is, perhaps, most troubling because there’s a chance that Riri Williams could fall short because of the lack of Black women playing a vital role in her creation, which could limit the authenticity of the character. Without allowing someone who has the experience of being a young Black girl helping to shape this character, Riri may fall flat, or worse, become little more than a caricature of the stereotypes that already surround Black women and girls.

Now it's most intriguing that, despite Bendis being quite a PC panderer himself - and he certainly went the woke route in the past decade - the columnist doesn't seem to find him appealing. Which could just go to show that, no matter how PC he tends to be, other social justice advocates still won't consider him worthy of praise. That said, Bendis was and still is a horrible scriptwriter, and that he got as far as he did, despite having such a bottom of the barrel resume, is lugubrious.

That said, the columnist was regrettably demanding the legitimization of "purse puppies", or quite possibly sensitivity readers, which became a sad staple of the PC era of the past decade. Perpetuating a bizarre notion that a white doesn't know anything about how to script a black character, this despite all the past writers of the past century who did. And whether Riri was characterized as under 16 at the time, "hypersexualization" is apparently the biggest concern, not jarring violence. Interesting how this was written as merely an issue involving racial backgrounds, because in the past decade alone, there was only so much assault on girls' sexuality no matter the background. Was the character of Riri really even described literally as a woman in the past decade? Why do I get the vibe it was a huge exaggeration?

Black women may be underrepresented in the creation of mainstream comics, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t here. From comic book store owner Arielle Johnson to actress Amandla Stenberg and artist Afua Richardson, Black women are a vital part of comic book and nerd culture at large. But while the number of Black women creating the art we want to see is growing, there is still a large disparity in editorial and other managerial roles at major publishers, which could create an even bigger impact for our representation.

Jaime Broadnax, creator and managing editor of Black Girl Nerds, has been critical of mainstream comic book publishers, like Marvel, because of their lack of Black women creatives.

“What is most important is that we give opportunities to more writers to have a seat at the table. Marvel’s history with hiring Black women writers is very poor, and with so many Black women writers as well as artists currently making their own comics it’s pretty bad when you elect to overlook so many of them,” she told EBONY.com. “Riri is also a 15-year-old girl, so there’s a lot of context with being and seeing the world through the eyes of a 15-year-old Black girl that a middle aged white man just wouldn’t understand. Fans have also criticized Bendis for ignoring them when they have legitimate concerns on how he writes characters of color, notably [Spider-Man] Miles Morales.”

And why exactly is it such a big deal to work for Marvel or even DC, yet no worries to be found regarding story merit? All that aside, it's worth considering that just like white women, if black women feel there's not enough money to make in comics production, they may simply not care to seek jobs in the industry when technology proper could offer only so much more. But again, isn't that amazing how despite all his own woke pandering, certain "fans" dislike Bendis, not because he even disrespected Stan Lee's own creations with stories like Avengers: Disassembled and House of M, but because of how he allegedly writes characters of specific racial backgrounds. Also note the "ghettoized" viewpoint hauled into the mess, where we're told a white man, no matter his background, couldn't comprehend anything about black girls. Ahem. What about white women, no matter their background? Do they also fail to grasp anything specific about black women? Is it virtually impossible to do research on their own? Most black girls are little different from white girls in what hobbies they could enjoy, along with topics like fashion, and something tells me the writers of this puff piece don't actually appreciate any of that. One of the worst takeaways from this article is that it's also hurtful to Stan Lee, after all the hard work he did in his time focusing on race relations in the comics Marvel turned out in the Silver/Bronze Age. There's a white man who, in sharp contrast to Bendis, did far more in his time to oversee talented storytelling, and this puff piece insulted him just 2 years before he passed on.

As Broadnax pointed out, it’s important for both fans and creators to speak up about why Black women and girls need to tell their own stories in comics, and that currently, that isn’t happening with the big two, Marvel and DC Comics. To date, only one Black woman—Felicia D. Henderson—has ever been employed as a writer for a major comic book publisher, and that was for DC Comics back in 2009 and 2011. Henderson worked as a freelancer, not a full-time writer, for the company that produced Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Marvel, so far, has never hired a Black woman writer to lead a title, something Broadnax found troubling.

The comics industry has a problem with acknowledging the importance of having Black women present as writers and editors, or as an integral part of the industry in general. So instead, we have Black women taking things into their own hands by being vocal on social media and creating their own webcomics or indie creations without the help of mainstream backers.

Seriously, if you need to tell your own stories, then you don't act like Marvel/DC are literally the sole places where it can be done, and you don't ask for the aid of anybody you think isn't helping your cause. So the black women who produced their own comics were doing the right thing. But the lack of acknowledgement why merit matters is telling, and today, this puff piece is more dated than ever, as what's told at the end makes clear:

Tee Franklin, better known as MizCaramelVixen on Twitter, is working to bring more diversity and awareness to the field. In addition to lauching her site VixenVarsity, Franklin has gone on to kickstart other initiatives, like #BlackComicsMonth and writing her own title, to make the community more inclusive.

On Twitter, she went on to share her own apprehension about Riri Wiliams, especially when there’s still so much work to do with ensuring that Black women’s voices are heard.

Despite my concerns, there’s no doubt Riri Williams is important. She represents the bright future we have both in the comics industry and everywhere else. However, Black girls and women have a disturbingly low number of role models to look up to within the subculture, and by publishing of this story without the input of Black female creatives, publishers are in danger of insinuating Black girls and women aren’t good enough to control their own narratives.

We all deserve to have our stories told. But more importantly, we deserve to be the ones creating them in the first place. As Riri Williams continues to grow, hopefully her success will open up doors for Black women writers, editors, and illustrators at the Big Two, and other mainstream houses in the industry. After all, we deserve the chance to fly with the rest of the superheroes we love.

What's laughable is that, despite the notes on black women developing their own comics, all the writer truly cares about is Marvel/DC. Also fascinating how she doesn't seem the least bit disappointed by how under Axel Alonso, Tony Stark was not just kicked to the curb at one point, his background was forcibly rewritten so that his biological parents were adoptive foster guardians instead, and all of a sudden, he even has a stepbrother named Arno. To date, it doesn't look like even under C.B. Cebulski that's ever been repaired, yet when it became apparent it wasn't working, so they went for the next cheap trick, which was diversity replacement, pushing an established white character out of his armor for the sake of a girl whose promotion wasn't based on writing merit. Also, I wouldn't be shocked if it turns out the whole notion Marvel/DC never employed a black woman on a regular basis was a huge exaggeration. Let's also not forget all the Black ladies in mainstream comicdom the writer omitted, including Storm, Vixen, and again, we could surely add civilian co-stars like Glory Grant from Spider-Man, and Black Lightning's ex-wife Lynne Stewart-Pierce, to the subject to point out how there's only so many Black women in these fictional universes who were left out for the sake of inflating an absurd narrative that, as a result, runs the gauntlet of victimology.

Today, less than a decade after all this, while the Riri character may still be around in comics, all because woke pandering dictates they cannot even quietly phase out a character based on how she was created to start with, none of these same SJWs ever talk about her anymore, if at all. It doesn't even matter to them that her codename may have been changed to Ironheart, yet lack of merit continues to scuttle any chance for success, as does woke pandering in an adaptation. They don't even talk about what a shame it was that Riri never made the waves of stratospheric success they so much wanted her to make, never gathered any kind of huge audience, nor do they lament how she wasn't created to stand on her own like the Falcon and Luke Cage did when they were created in 1969 and 1972, and as a result, lacked her own agency as a newer creation. Which is surely to be expected when nobody on the left wants to explore serious issues of the times, in sci-fi terms or otherwise. I don't think the writer actually loves these superhero comics save for the sake of exploiting them for political points that don't add up to anything. There's no mention of why merit is vital for success, and if any of these mainstream or independent comics aren't being developed based on merit, can you truly expect to get ahead? Of course not.

Why neither Wonder Woman nor the rest industry needs Jodi Picoult as a writer

Almost 2 decades ago, the novelist Jodi Picoult had a brief stint writing Wonder Woman, for about 4-5 issues. According to this old CNN report:

So Picoult rearranged elements of her hectic work schedule and dove into research. (She admits to not being much of a "Wonder Woman" fan growing up -- "X-Men" was more her speed.) Looking back on the character's six decades in comics, Picoult found the story focused more on Wonder Woman's exploits as a superhero and less on the life of her alter ego, Diana Prince.

That angle baffled her. Diana Prince is a far more interesting character, she says, and offers plenty to work with.

"Over the years, she has had many different incarnations in the human world, some that I thought were pathetic," she says. "[But[ there's never been something that a reader could sink their teeth into and say, 'Oh yeah, this is why I'm like her.'"

If that's how she was going to put it, I don't think she could write up a convincing civilian life for any superhero character, and besides, if she wasn't into WW before, that could disqualify her. Also, if all she can do is put down virtually every characterization of WW except perhaps her own, no matter the merit of the completed story, that's a serious mistake.

Now, years later, this same author has caused controversy with musical theater plays and books considered unsuitable for children, according to Breitbart:

The superintendent of Mississinewa High School in Gas City, Indiana, canceled a production last week of “Between the Lines,” saying concerns were raised over “sexual innuendo” and alcohol references in the musical. Jeremy Fewell, the superintendent, did not respond to a request for comment.

“It’s devastating for us to know that these kids who put in hundreds of hours of hard work had that torn away from them because of the objections of a single parent,” says Picoult.

“What I know, perhaps better than most people, as someone whose books have been banned, is when one parent starts deciding what is appropriate and what is inappropriate for the children of other parents, we have a big problem.”

Picoult noted that the same Indiana high school has previously produced “Grease,” where the sexual innuendo and alcohol abuse is much greater, including a pregnancy scare, sex-mad teens and the line “Did she put up a fight?”

“Between the Lines” centers on Delilah, an outsider in a new high school, who finds solace in a book and realizes she has the power to write her own story and narrate her own life. “It is a very benign message. And it’s actually a really important one for adolescents today,” says Picoult.

The original work, which features a nonbinary character, had already been edited with licensed changes to make it more palatable for a conservative audience, including removing any reference to the nonbinary character’s gender orientation.

If that's what the original novel/play was like, there's really not much point reading/watching even an altered edition, because why put money into the pockets of somebody that left-leaning, who's perfectly willing to concoct a story pandering to what the left today wants to see? Besides, I'm sure more than one parent was concerned, and if Picoult's most questionable books were ever stocked in school libraries, it was uncalled for. As for Grease, I've seen both the 1978 movie directed by Randall Kleiser and at least one theater play years ago, and whatever sexual innuendo's in there, it was tame compared to what Picoult could've brewed up. I can't recall if there was any alcohol consumption though. That she'd pander to LGBT ideology just compounds why she wasn't suited to write Wonder Woman back in the day, and I hesitate to think of what she'll brew up next if DC/Marvel decide to hire her again to write their comics.

A cartoon in the works based on Skybound's adaptations of GI Joe and Transformers

Previously, it had been reported there might be a live action movie in the works based on 2 of Hasbro's most famous toy franchises. But now, Deadline's announced a new cartoon for TV is planned based on Skybound/Image's adaptations of GI Joe and the Transformers, and intended to be adult in nature:

Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment has teamed with Hasbro Entertainment to produce Energon Universe, an adult animated series based on the comics of the same name created by Kirkman and published by Skybound. Joe Henderson (Lucifer) is attached to write the adaptation and serve as showrunner on the series, an epic crossover of G.I. Joe, Transformers and Void Rivals mythology, which is expected to be taken out to buyers shortly.

Despite featuring the family-friendly Hasbro characters G.I. Joe and Transformers, the Energon Universe series will be broad, with adult sensibility in the vein of Kirkman’s gritty adult animated series Invincible, based on his comic, which has been a hit for Prime Video, renewed for Season 5 ahead of its Season 4 premiere next March.

It's not hard to guess the reporter's not familiar with Marvel's original GI Joe volume for starters, which, while far from the bloodiest comic you'll read, was anything but kiddie fare, and there were occasionally deaths seen in the scripts by Larry Hama. Even their Transformers series by Bob Budiansky was anything but kiddie stuff. I'm weary of these short-ranged writers who don't look to the older stuff to get an idea of what the adaptations were like. The new stories by Skybound, as far as I know, also also relatively more mature than what came before, and I think I once noticed a story where Starscream grabbed and smashed an innocent human to death in his hand in their Transformers series. That's hardly child's play there.

Kirkman, a Transformers and G.I. Joe fan since childhood, won the comic book publishing rights to the signature Hasbro brands in 2021. He went on to create a cohesive shared universe in which Transformers and G.I. Joe co-exist together alongside original IP Void Rivals, which Kirkman co-created with Lorenzo De Felici.

Two years in, Energon Universe has become one of Hasbro’s bestselling comic book lines ever, with over 7 million combined units sold worldwide. It launched in June 2023 with Void Rivals which featured the surprise appearance of Transformers character Jetfire on the final page. That was followed by the October 2023 release of Transformers and four G.I. Joe character-focused miniseries, leading to a tentpole G.I. Joe series launch in November 2024, with Transformers #1, G.I. Joe #1 and Void Rivals #1 all setting sale records and Transformers winning two Edgar Awards in 2024.

Since they mention Jetfire, there may be some interesting history to that particular toy model - due to copyright issues with Japanese companies like Takara and Bandai, who made similar models at the time, Jetfire vanished from sales and the comics originally published by Marvel after a year or so, and the toy character name was changed to Skyfire at one point during its original brief run. Many years later, these licensing issues were presumably smoothed over, and I do admit, it's flattering the assigned writers/artists/editors were able to make the arrangements to once again make use of such a previously rare character. Something else about Skybound's adaptations is told by Movieweb:

Energon Universe is a publishing initiative overseen by Robert Kirkman, best known as the creator of The Walking Dead and Invincible, that reimagines the mythology of the Transformers and G.I. Joe, tying the two franchises' histories together. In this universe, the Joes were formed in response to the Transformers' arrival on Earth and COBRA's weapons harnessing Energon, the life essence of the Transformers. The series has even brought in Hasbro's other 1980s toy property, M.A.S.K. Paramount spent years trying and failing to build a shared universe for Hasbro's properties, but Skybound Entertainment has seemingly done so with ease.

Well maybe that's because until now, they focused on writing up a comics-based world, not somthing for movies. As for M.A.S.K, I'm fairly familiar with it; a toy line originally published by Kenner and mid-80s cartoon about a team of crimefighters with transforming vehicles and special masks who battled a terrorist organization named V.E.N.O.M, who had similar technology. Sounds like today's nostalgists in entertainment can certainly make an effort to rope in as many older products as possible.

But as for a new cartoon on TV based on both these leading toy franchises, while it may not be new that they could have a more adult perspective, if you consider that the volumes originally from Marvel had more of a sense of sophistication than the animated cartoons of the times, will they actually tackle serious issues and metaphors convincingly? If they turn out to be sexless and nailed on painting conservatives as the sole root of evil, then what good is this? Also, let's consider that, while they may speak of 7 million units, that's combined, which suggests that in the past few years since their launch, individual monthly copies only sold in the low hundred-thousands below a million, and combined doesn't prove indefinitely they're selling much better than Marvel/DC.

If the new cartoon in planning for TV isn't PC, then good luck to it. But if it is PC, and turns ladies like Scarlett and Cover Girl into a sexless mess, I don't see why so much animation technology has to be wasted on sullying these franchises any more than need be. The Transformers: One cartoon film wasn't a big success, and if this new crossover cartoon turns out to be woke, it'll only continue compounding the damage inflicted upon GI Joe by extension in wider medium.

What Gizmodo says about a new Wolverine computer game

A writer at the leftist Gizmodo wrote about a new computer game adaptation of Wolverine, which, perhaps unshockingly, appears to be another video game laced with jarring violence:

Last night Sony finally re-revealed Insomniac’s highly anticipated next step in the Marvel gaming universe: trading the high-flying webslinging of their Spider-Man games for a gore-soaked soiree into the realm of Marvel’s mutants for Wolverine. While we learned that this is certainly going to be a much more gory take on the studio’s trademark action, we also learned that Wolverine will be including a few familiar faces, factions, and locales from the comics, too.

Because that's all we need, and this is what's truly worthy of anticipation, huh? I don't think Wolverine's solo series from 1988 was ever that jarring, but in any event, this is another superfluous example of how gore has crowded out the entertainment market, and isn't doing a favor for it at all. This news report, oddly enough, does tell that:

Okay, this one might seem a bit obvious: most people know that Logan himself is from Canada, so it’s not too surprising that we’ll at least spend some of our time in Wolverine up in the chilly north of his homeland (a brief sign seen in the trailer points us more specifically around Squamish, in British Columbia). But what most comics readers may not be familiar with is the fact that the Canadian government has a pretty solid history in Marvel’s comics as being absolutely evil.

The Canadian government has long had branches to monitor and encourage official superhero activity, like Department H, the monitoring branch that operated the Canadian superteam Alpha Flight, but it’s also been repeatedly shown (especially during John Byrne’s legendary run on Alpha Flight) that Canada’s government is extremely corrupt and often up to no good, leading to its various heroes rebelling against the government’s machinations. There’s also the unfortunate bit that, perhaps more pertinent for Logan, where another shady department within the Canadian government, Department K, surreptitiously revived the Weapon X program after it had been shut down, conducting horrendous experimentation on subjects as it attempted to re-emulate the American government’s own plans to create the perfect supersoldier.

Seriously? I can't recall if that was truly the case, and I don't think it was in Alpha Flight, although Pierre Trudeau, who appeared at least once as an illustrated figure in Alpha Flight, was a communist sympathiser, and he even visited Cuba during the mid-1970s. But in all the Alpha stories I read to date, such history was never even so much as alluded to, so how can you say Byrne or even Bill Mantlo offered a seriously challenging look at the Canadian government in any incarnation? And it wouldn't be shocking if, in sharp contrast to what was published up to the late 90s, the more recent stories that may have alluded to figures like Justin Trudeau didn't present Canada's government in even a remotely negative light. If not, that just shows how badly the entertainment industry succumbed to PC, including communism. Government corruption may have been the case established in Wolverine's own stories, but I can't say the theme was explored that often elsewhere in the Marvel franchise back in the day.

Logan slices up a lot—a lot—of people in this debut trailer, and while many of them are spurting gallons of blood thanks to it, some of them are spurting gallons of blood and losing swanky cybernetic limbs along the way. Thanks to the Playstation Blog, we can presume that these cyborg mercenaries are the game’s take on the Reavers.

Nothing new under the sun, and "cybernetic limbs" is no excuse either. A case could be made that while Wolverine has had video game incarnations before, at least as far back as the early 90s, things have gone way too far since, and this new game is only compounding all that's gone wrong with modern video game productions, to say nothing of Marvel itself. Oh yes, and lest we forget DC has also suffered horribly from similar issues. One more reason why most video games based on their franchises are better forgotten too.

New Asterix story set in Portugal

France 24 announced a new Asterix story has been published, set in ancient Portugal, which I can't recall was ever used as a setting before on the Iberian peninsula, unlike Spain, which was:

"Asterix in Lusitania" is the 41st instalment in the legendary French comic book series, taking him to the far reaches of the Roman Empire, 66 years after his creation by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. [...]

For the Portuguese adventure, "we added something very very specific to the Portuguese people -- 'saudade' -- this somewhat fatalistic melancholy," Fabcaro told AFP. [...]

Asterix "has a 'comforting' aspect for readers," said Fabcaro. "Our parents read it and made us read it. We do the same with our children. There is an ongoing attachment."

He added that the comic has "incredible" educational value.

"A 10-year-old child who doesn't understand a joke or an allusion, it's not a big deal. They will understand it at 15, 20, or 40 years old. There are several levels of interpretation."

That's surely why to date, it's never made the biggest waves in the USA, because the PC crowd stateside can't appreciate the educational value as to what the European continent could be like in remote times, nor what jokes could be made in allusion to modern times. Let's not forget the time Papercutz gave telling signs they could omit certain story details that didn't jibe with their woke positions of today. So while in Europe, classic strips like these still enjoy popularity with local audiences, stateside, it's unfortunately minimal, no thanks to all the PC propaganda that's governed how foreign products can be marketed.

Movie director who adapted New Mutants says it was a terrible experience

According to The Direct, film director Josh Boone, who oversaw the adaptation of New Mutants, is panning his own movie:

The New Mutants is one of the past decade's most poorly received Marvel movies, but even the writer and director, Josh Boone, had some poor things to say about it. 20th Century Fox (which was poked fun at in Deadpool & Wolverine) tried making a Mutants-themed horror flick with The New Mutants, which featured characters from the comics team of the same name. Unfortunately, the movie only received a 36% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics. Fans shared that sentiment, as the film only has a 55% audience score.

The New Mutants writer and director Josh Boone recently slammed his 2020 film, saying it was "unfulfilling." In a recent interview with The Direct while promoting his upcoming movie, Regretting You, Boone pulled back the curtain on how harrowing production was for The New Mutants.

Specifically, the writer and director admitted that making the movie was "so traumatic." It was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, which significantly impacted its box office numbers. The film also had to deal with 20th Century Fox being sold to Disney around that same time, which Boone also mentioned was a reason the movie "took so many years" to make and was "so unfulfilling:"

"It's so hard because it was so traumatic. The studio was sold, and we hit a pandemic... The studio was sold during the shooting, and then the pandemic happened when they decided to release it. And it just was such a — I had a wonderful time. I love the cast so much, but making that... It took so many years, and it was so unfulfilling, ultimately."

The Direct mentioned to Boone that Marvel Studios will be exploring Mutants more in the near future of the MCU, asking him if he would ever be interested in making a return to the comic book movie world and revisit a potential Mutants project.

Boone admitted that he "didn't really get to make the movie [he] wanted" with The New Mutants, and, because that film went through so many issues, "[he'd] rather just never do it again:"

"We didn't really get to make the movie we wanted to make. We made half the movie we wanted to make. And the release was so compromised by the pandemic... I'd rather just never do it again, just to be honest."

Mutants have already been introduced in the MCU through characters like Deadpool, Wolverine, Charles Xavier, and even Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel). However, following the conclusion of the Multiverse Saga, which will end with the release of Avengers: Secret Wars, Marvel Studios is expected to fully dive into Mutants properly.

Unsurprisingly, it goes unmentioned that Islamic propaganda was introduced into the MCU by ways of the Muslim Ms. Marvel. To date, pretty much all of the adaptations featuring Khan were failures, and it remains to be seen if Marvel Tokon will be the same, no matter how it's designed and the cast is characterized (I do think that, if the costume design for Capt. America is based on what's seen in live action films, that's decidedly laughable).

Maybe Boone only got to make "half" the movie he wanted, but if it's horror-themed, that's another reason why it's for the best if it was a flop. Back in the day, the X-Men comics may have built upon darkness, but horror themes were never that heavy, except maybe when the villain from Tomb of Dracula turned up (and certainly did at one point in Dr. Strange's series). And up to the turn of the century, they did have more of a decent sense of humor than what we see today. New Mutants as a comic deserves far better than these live action adaptations, and it's best to put them to bed already.

What speaks to the soul about Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle?

A writer at the Federalist tells why the anime franchise of Demon Slayer is winning over USA audiences, in contrast to recent Disney fare:

President Trump announced Monday that he’s slapping a 100 percent tariff on foreign films. Maybe he saw the box office numbers and panicked: the Japanese juggernaut Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle is crushing American animation. The film sits at 98 percent from audiences and critics on Rotten Tomatoes and raked in a record-breaking $70 million in the United States alone on its opening weekend. Meanwhile, DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man pulled in $36 million over its domestic premiere weekend, and Disney Pixar’s Elio flopped at $21 million in its debut.

So why are Americans shelling out for a Japanese anime movie about a boy with a sword and a demon sister, instead of American-made media? Simply put: Demon Slayer gives audiences what they’re starving for — sacrifice, redemption, courage, family, discipline, and the age-old struggle of light against darkness. In other words, the stuff that makes stories worth telling.

One potential difference Demon Slayer has from USA animation, though, is that it's more adult, built on R-rated themes of violence far less western animated films and TV shows have ever been, and no doubt much of the audience that's giving the film success anywhere is comprised more of teen/adult viewership. Depending on your viewpoint, that's something USA animation producers could consider, but that alone would obvioulsy not improve a dire situation where heroism, family and courage are sorely lacking as themes of positivity. Why, if there's any opposition to anything that could resemble sex-positivity, as the same writer at the same site once had, that too is definitely troubling. If Demon Slayer upholds masculinity, then I'm not sure what the beef is with "scantily clad women", unless its villainesses we're talking about. Isn't heterosexuality also crucial for masculinity? And if she doesn't have an issue with Wonder Woman wearing a bustier, then there should be no issue with scantily clad women in Demon Slayer, unless it's criminals they're talking about.

Demon Slayer has obvious Buddhist and Shinto influences, and the story’s Japanese creator clearly did not set out to write a Christian parable, yet the eternal truths seep through anyway. There’s a reason for that.

In The Last Battle, the final book of The Chronicles of Narnia, Emeth, a Calormene soldier, is welcomed into Aslan’s Country (heaven) despite never having served Aslan in life. A sincere worshipper of Tash, Emeth had sought to live faithfully and honestly, and when he dies and meets Aslan face-to-face, he learns that every act of love and integrity he performed belonged to Aslan all along, for nothing good can be done in the name of Tash and nothing evil in the name of Aslan.

In this, Lewis shows that truth and goodness are not bound by human labels but flow from God Himself. It is for this reason that stories written with sincerity, love, and a longing for the good — whether intended or not — inevitably echo Christian themes of sacrifice, redemption, courage, and the triumph of light over darkness.

And this is precisely why Demon Slayer resonates while much of American animation flounders. Hollywood insists on stories that purposely deny the eternal patterns — sacrifice, redemption, good versus evil — and so its offerings feel hollow. Atheistic Japan tells a tale about demons and swordsmen, and somehow it strikes closer to the heart of reality than a multimillion-dollar Pixar production.

Don’t get me wrong: I want American animation to do well. I’m not happy that foreign media is better than our own, and Trump is right to be disturbed by films like Demon Slayer thriving in the United States. But the problem isn’t that Americans are watching Japanese anime; it’s that Hollywood has stopped telling the kind of stories that “set hearts ablaze.” And while I love Trump’s tariffs, I fear no tariff is going to fix that.

Well then, depending how one views the topic, wouldn't it also do some good to make a call for producing cartoon stories marketed for adults, convincing them it's worth watching, and at the same time, maybe trying to make something worthwhile that doesn't rely on grisly violence? There's been too much of that in the past quarter century, and that's something that's time to fix, ditto the sex-negative propaganda that's become a sad staple of recent. And of course, maybe in the future somebody can form the kind of animation production outfits the Daily Wire's been backing, that can develop stuff with themes both children and adults can learn something promising from. For now, the same people complaining are spending too much time expecting Hollywood to clean up the mess they're making.

Another unqualified "moralist" lectures how to view Batman

Comic Book Movie reports that leftist writer Grant Morrison is telling everybody why Batman shouldn't be depicted killing villains. And I'm not sure the beginning is entirely accurate, so much as it's actually offensive in the 3rd paragraph:

Should superheroes kill? It's a question that continues to be hotly debated among comic book fans, but everyone can agree that there are some characters who should never take a life. Spider-Man is one, and Batman is undoubtedly another.

The Caped Crusader frequently killed crooks when he was first introduced, often in quite brutal fashion. As DC Comics moved into the 1940s, Nazis became his main target, and it took years after that for his no-kill, no-guns rule to be firmly established as "canon."

On screen, Batman has frequently murdered. Tim Burton's Dark Knight didn't hold back, while much has been said about the hero's decision to let Ra's al Ghul perish at the end of Batman Begins. Unsurprisingly, Zack Snyder's Batman killed indiscriminately and, controversially, wielded a few firearms.

Excuse me? So when Batman kills a villain onscreen who could be as deadly as the Joker is, that literally constitutes murder? Seriously, this is like a form of defamation, and insults the filmmakers no matter what their intentions were. In the Golden Age, yes, the Masked Manhunter may have killed at least a few criminals in the first year or so of his stories, and he was certainly written carrying a firearm in 2 or 3 issues that I read in reprints, but what they say about the first 2 years of the Golden Age still sounds rather exaggerated. But, they're right about how Batman's moral codes were rewritten pretty quickly to possibly match how other emerging superheroes went about their business. So, it certainly is bizarre how filmmakers by contrast were given a pass on the issue, whereas most comics writers rarely did anything remotely similar, if at all, and the editors surely retained a very firm "moral stance".

But does that mean the possibility Batman would have to kill even in self-defense can't be explored in modern writing (provided there were better company management that wasn't so terrible, of course)? Well, it's definitely ludicrous how so often, Batman would be depicted sparing the Joker even after the most horrific results of the Clown Prince of Crime's reign of terror were written up in past stories. IIRC, one of the worst examples was surely in the late 1990s, when the Joker was written murdering Sarah Gordon, and the worst punishment he may have received was a shot in the leg. Which he recovered from fast, as seen ever since. Now, here's Morrison's tedious lecture:

Comic book writer Grant Morrison has written a lot of Batman comics, including the upcoming crossover featuring Bruce Wayne and Marvel's Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool (Batman/Deadpool #1 goes on sale next month).

During a recent Reddit AMA, he weighed in on why Batman doesn't—and should never—kill his foes:

"If Batman kills he becomes a crazy criminal in a weird costume and Jim Gordon would have to hunt him down and bring him to justice. The glory of Bruce Wayne is that he refuses to be a killer. He has trained in every martial arts discipline in order to not have to kill and that's what makes him mad and magnificent, and a superhero."

"He's fine with intimidation and injury, of course, but killing his enemies would destroy him. He catches bad guys and leaves them trussed up outside the nearest precinct, so that the legal system can take care of them... if the legal system lets them loose, he catches them all over again..."

That's awfully rich coming from somebody who wrote one of the X-Men series for almost 3 years, including Wolverine, and it could be argued that if Logan kills, doesn't that make him a crazy criminal? Again, why does Wolverine get a free pass in sharp contrast to Batman and even the Punisher?

Much has been said over the years about whether Batman needs to kill those he locks up in Arkham Asylum, particularly when someone like The Joker repeatedly breaks free. Like many villains, not only does the Clown Prince of Crime target those close to Batman, but innocents often suffer, as well.

Still, if Batman crossed that line, it does somewhat feel like he becomes no better than those he's attempting to protect Gotham City from. Whether the Caped Crusader should kill in self-defence is another matter, and that's certainly something we've seen on the page many times.

I think a better question is whether the villains should be written heading for the grave, based on the severity of their acts, and why there have to be only so many stories all over the place where civilians are put to death in potentially grisly ways. During Frank Miller's Daredevil run, in the issue where Elektra was originally put to death for a short time by Bullseye, there was a scene preceding that where Bullseye took a playing card and murdered a taxi driver by flicking the card at his throat, slashing it, all so he could hijack the cab. After Bullseye stabbed Elektra and DD hunted him down, the Man Without Fear let Bullseye drop from a cable on a high building, resulting in the villain becoming paralyzed for a time. Why, in the 1993 origin miniseries Miller penned with John Romita Jr, even there, Matt Murdock led to the death of a crooked prostitute, and later, while saving a young girl who was being held hostage by human traffickers employed by the Kingpin, the future DD deflected a villain's bullet right back at him with a hand-held weapon, resulting in the criminal being terminated on the spot. Does that make Matt Murdock a "crazy criminal" too? Or does Morrison believe that, because DD may never have achieved the same prominence as Batman in pop culture, that it doesn't count?

One of the commenters noted:

Every tard points to this but do you know what they ignore?

Michael Keaton's Batman killing his enemies in two movies directed by Tim Burton. One time, he shoved a bomb down a clown's pants, pushed him off camera where he exploded, and then smiled when he died.

I guess you forgot that. Like people like you forgot when a powered Christopher Reeves Superman tortured a depowered Zod by crushing every bone in his hand and then throwing him down an icy pit to his death, or laughing after Lois Lane punched out Ursa who then also fell into the same icy pit to her death.

In a way, this is correct, although as another commenter noted:

Christopher Reeve's Superman never killed. In the extended version that ran on tv it showed the Phantom Zone criminals being apprehended by the authorities. So bit of a stretch to say he murdered them. Clearly that wasn’t the director’s intention and it doesn’t fit with how the character was portrayed in the films at all.

I am aware of the footage that was unused until years later, possibly in the Richard Donner cut of the 2nd movie, although this was a special edition released about 2 decades ago, and was specially prepared so you could see what Donner's vision was like. From what I know, his idea was to have Superman reverse time effects yet again, not unlike how he saved Lois Lane from death in the 1st, but if that had been the story of the official cut of the 2nd movie with Reeve, then from an artistic perspective, it could've looked absurd and laughable if Superman resorted to time travel effects almost every time something needs correction. Of course, in the end, the decreasing box office receipts ensured that'd all come to an end regardless, and in hindsight, I'm as unhappy as ever that Supergirl fared worse artistically and at the box office than Superman had when the 3d movie came about, though the 4th was obviously what buried the prospects of additional Superman films for many years afterwards, and now, woke politics have seen to it that it's no longer fun anticipating what the next movie with the Man of Steel and other superheroes could be like.

Morrison's claim about Batman is just insulting to the intellect, and chances are it's all based on some kind of commercialized view of Batman, at least from a comics-based perspective. But what's really galling is the refusal of DC - and Marvel - to let go of the most notable supervillains, and develop different ones that can become adversaries of the superheroes going forward. Why, if new ones were possible to create successfully (which is unlikely, given the sorry state of DC at the moment), they could include "plainclothes" villains, who could still have sci-fi powers written up accordingly. But it's not hard to guess the Big Two are opposed to such an idea based on that they don't want to pay residuals to any creators who might develop such ideas for them, and that's got to be one of the worst problems and results of all the PC that cascaded down to hopelessness all these years.

Mark Russell's "Thanksgiving" comic is an embarrassment

Comic Book Club Live posted previews of Ahoy Comics' "Thanksgiving" by leftist Mark Russell, and there's some hints of political motivations in this item, not to mention it makes the whole holiday look ugly. The advertising blurb reads like this:

An intense, timely one-shot from Mark Russell (X-Factor, SECOND COMING) and Mauricet (HOWL). Thanksgiving—a day when American families come together, until the strain inevitably tears them apart. But for one family, the cruel and deadly secret of the Turkeyneck Killer binds them together in the saddest, most shameful way possible.

Because we just have to be lectured that sadness is better than happiness, right? This looks worse than a cartoon produced in the past decade or so titled "Free Birds", which was a subtle attack on the Thanksgiving holiday. In this comic, which has disturbing illustrations of pilgrims raising knives while hunting turkeys, it also features the following:

A grandma who writes racist posts on social media? Well it's clear this is not something meant to celebrate happiness, and that's virtually the problem here. We keep getting lectured propaganda like that the USA was built solely upon racism, that the country is "systemically racist", and cannot be changed in any way, and plenty of other ghastly forms of exaggerated drivel that don't provide a clear answer whether anything can be improved at all.

And this is the sad state even independent comics have been reduced to. It may be a good thing if leftists like Russell are no longer working for majors, but without a doubt, even these comics from small publishers can have a bad influence, and that's why there is valid reason to worry they will end up giving off all the wrong vibes in some way or other.

Rogue's been turned into the latest pointless sacrifice, supposedly to stop Galactus

Superhero Hype/Yahoo reports that in the pages of "Unbreakable" X-Men, as written by Gail Simone, Rogue appears to have been turned into the latest casualty in Marvel's continued dispatchings of any character they see fit to put in the graveyard, no matter how meaningless it's become, and even if it's only temporary, that's still no excuse:

Powerful as this X-Men team was, they could not hope to stand against Galactus, Not until Rogue, in as a desperate last-ditch effort, tried to drain the Power Cosmic from the Devourer of Worlds. The end result was Rogue and Galactus seemingly merging, transformed into a giant lifeless statue. By all appearances Rogue had saved Dome and the Earth at the cost of her own life.

Unfortunately, a cutaway later in Unbreakable X-Men #1 suggests that Rogue’s sacrifice may have been futile. The brief scene shows Galactus several years later in a coma on the ocean floor. Apparently Rogue was successful in draining most of his power, but his physical form manifested elsewhere on Earth. By the issue’s end, Galactus appears to be awakening, suggesting his role in the Age of Revelation is not yet concluded.

These modern "stories" are futile. Even if death's a revolving door in science fiction (though it's unclear if "civilian" casts are always afforded the miracle), this makes clear the obsession with turning every possible character into a sacrificial lamb for the sake of "proving" they're capable of knocking off notable characters still stands. Now, Simone's doing to Rogue what even Grant Morrison didn't get to do with the southern belle mutant. And, it can serve as an example of how Simone really is an overrated scribe herself. Even her Birds of Prey run for DC was overrated, and certainly degenerated into a mess pretty fast.

This may not even be the first time the X-Men were ever portrayed as fouling up superfluously, and it certainly doesn't do any favors for their publication history.

Marvel Studios co-founder producing new version of Ekos comic from Aspen

Polygon reports David Maisel, one of the original developers of Marvel Studios (which is now mostly merged into the rest of Disney Studios, and has become a PC mess) is working on a new version of Ekos, a comic that was written by the late Michael Turner, and most unfortunately, the awful Geoff Johns:

Marvel Studios founder David Maisel made comic book history with the official launch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008. Now, he’s working to build a universe based on the works of Michael Turner (best known as the co-creator of Witchblade and the co-founder of Aspen Comics) and Geoff Johns (who went on to become president of DC Comics). The latest step in that effort is a new Kickstarter for the second volume of the comic series Ekos on Oct. 21.

Ekos started out as a six-page comic Turner and Johns published in Wizard magazine in 2004. It introduced Grell, a gliding, feline humanoid whose planet is invaded by humans. (If that sounds like Avatar, James Cameron was a fan of Turner’s work and at one point was attached to adapt his ocean-focused series Fathom.) Ekos was accompanied by a poll asking readers to vote on which comic the duo should make next, choosing between two different previews. They narrowly picked Soulfire, set in a distant future where magic is being wiped out.

Turner tragically died of cancer in 2008 at the age of 37. In recent years, Maisel has been leading the charge to revive the characters Turner created through a collaboration with Aspen Comics co-owner Peter Steigerwald.

While I do think it's sad Turner died much too young, I think it's regrettable he just had to draw the covers for Identity Crisis, and while he may not have done interior art like the overrated Rags Morales did, that Turner would accept the job even Alex Ross wisely didn't is still embarrassingly bad. That Turner once co-wrote an independent comic with Johns doesn't improve matters. Why, what if the premise is a subtle political statement?

ComicBook says:

Ekos was actually part of a 2003 Wizard Magazine poll set up to decide Turner’s next project, and since it was Soulfire that won the poll, the only previously published material featuring this world and its lead character, Grell, was that original 6-page preview. That all changed with Ekos Vol. 1, which was spearheaded by the team of Aspen Comics and Marvel Studios Founding Chairman David Maisel, and now Ekos is back with the anticipated second chapter and more involvement from Turner’s other beloved franchises.

In Ekos Vol. 2, fans will get to see more interactions between Grell, Aspen, and Grace, and this is the first time all three of these worlds have been able to be in the same story. The cover above certainly reflects that, and we can’t wait to see what the team has up its sleeve for the next chapter. JT. Krul is writing Ekos Vol. 2, which features art by Alex Konat, inks by Mark Roslan, colors by Peter Steigerwald, and lettering by Josh Reed.

What's sad about Krul, who penned one of the most repellent takes on DC's Speedy/Arsenal, is that he's quite a far-leftist himself, and while his stories for Aspen may be more readable than his mainstream work, they still need to be taken with a grain of salt. I just hope Johns doesn't have any ownership of Ekos, because it's bad enough if he has any investments in mainstream, and he was a horrible influence over the past quarter-century. I'm sure Aspen has plenty of talented contributors, but as their employment of Krul suggests, they obviously aren't perfect either, and again, it's a shame Turner tainted his legacy by drawing Identity Crisis covers back in 2004.

Comic strips envisioning the future at a London exhibition

The Art Newspaper reported about an exhibition in London for notable comics like Judge Dredd, and it says at the end:

Consider, for example, the million-year potted history told in a single page of Brick Bradford, dating from 1941: nuclear war, planetary disaster, the eradication of all disease (though it predicted humans would reach the moon in the 50th century… only about 3,000 years out). Judge Dredd’s blood-soaked quasi-fascism now looks a whole lot more likely, suggesting that by the late 1970s, when Dredd first showed up in 2000AD comic, idealistic notions of the future direction of society had been well and truly phased out.

Well the problem is that it's like nobody wanted to argue why it's vital to do everything one can to prevent serious disasters from occurring, easily worse than what 2000AD could envision. And that's not exactly what even Dredd's writers and artists were doing at the time, was it? If nobody's willing to work for improvement of living conditions and emphasis on civility, and make such a point in the very fiction products where all the bleakness is occurring, then how does anybody expect to improve the world's situation?

Whether it's comics creators or moviemakers, some simply do not seem to have what it takes to offer clearer vision for whether they want the planet to be a better place. And those who produced Judge Dredd and other 2000AD comic strips with similar themes don't seem to have had any interest in emphasizing the vital need for improvement either.

French publisher's USA affiliate closing from bankruptcy

The Street announced the USA division of Humanoids Inc, which is known for publishing magazines like Heavy Metal (and Mark Waid once worked for them in past years), is closing due to bankruptcy:

Despite the growing market, Humanoids, the U.S. arm of a French comic book company, has followed its parent company into Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Humanoids files Chapter 7 bankruptcy

Humanoids has a long and colorful history.

“Humanoids began under the name Les Humanoïdes Associés in the turbulent early 1970s in Paris, which — like San Francisco and New York — was alive with the spirit of artistic revolution. As young people were debating ideas in unprecedented ways, graphic novel artists Jean Giraud (known as Mœbius) and Philippe Druillet, along with writer Jean-Pierre Dionnet, were determined to push the limits of their art and of the medium as a whole. They joined forces to create a comics magazine like none before: ‘Métal Hurlant’ (French for ‘Screaming Metal’),” the company shared on its website. [...]

“Layoffs are coming for the French staff, with non-payment of June salaries sparking shock among employees. Restructuring will make Humanoids more modest, with a focus on the iconic ‘Métal Hurlant’ magazine,” according to the website.

The French part of the company, however, is expected to survive, while the U.S. branch is being liquidated.

If the company went woke stateside, it was probably only a matter of time before they went broke. Then again, the French division must've gone woke too, yet who knows if they'll learn any lessons in that regard? This is, most unfortunately, an era where political correctness has sadly taken its toll.

Some screencaps of recent social media posts by Tony Isabella

Here's 6 screencaps from the past month of posts and reposts on X by Tony Isabella, the veteran comics writer/columnist who sadly decided to take up a transsexual identity earlier this year, and these are very, very sad cases indeed:

The above 2 make it sound like he's perfectly okay with the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk, by extension. If that's the case, then Isabella's career as a writer is over, and if I were a publisher/editor, I certainly couldn't and wouldn't hire him after what he said. I don't think even Gerry Conway and Ron Marz ever wrote or reposted stuff this horrific over the years. But if you think the first 2 examples are bad, wait'll you see the following, which is as bizarre as it's bad:

Now let me get this straight. Isabella's obsessed with upholding LGBT ideology at all costs, yet at the same time, he reposted an item that takes the side of Islam, which is against LGBT ideology?!? Somehow, I get the strange feeling that despite how Isabella may seem uninformed about the reality of the Religion of Peace, he might actually know what it's like, and decided somewhere along the way that it's okay for Muslims (and maybe even Communists) to be one "protected class" movement that can oppose the lifestyle Isabella's taking up? Who knows? Next, there's these:

And that too can say all we need to know as to just how sad a case Isabella's become years after he became irrelevant. It's terrible some comics writers, old and new, have to be such obsessed ideologues.

A writer who's willing to highlight great Silver Age Superman stories

Here's a writer at ComicBook who's willing, unlike some others in mainstream, to take a look at some Silver Age Superman tales worth consideration:

The Silver Age is arguably one of the best periods in comic book history. Spanning from approximately 1956 to 1970, the era saw the creation of new characters and concepts that would go on to be iconic and important decades later, fantastic art, and the reemergence of superheroes after a time when such stores had struggled, thanks to societal controversy that blamed comics for juvenile delinquency. The Silver Age was also an era of absolutely wild stories, including those that put beloved characters in strange (and often hilarious) scenarios that can only be described as “quirky.”

This is especially true for Superman‘s Silver Age. Full of campy stories that often leaned into sci-fi territory, it’s an era that was often lighthearted, but is also one that deeply expands the Superman mythos. Silver Age stories introduced major concepts about Krypton, Superman’s powers, and even saw some of his classic villains start to coalesce into the threats they are today. It’s a great time to be a Superman fan — and here are seven of the greatest Superman stories from that era.

You can read the list and judge for yourself, and they're hopefully on their way to being reprinted in the DC Finest archive series in time. For now, interesting they also allude to the Fredric Wertham era, because while comics may not actually be blamed for causing delinquency today, many mainstream publishers have since exploited them for far-left propaganda, and simultaneously, there's been censorship occurring that Wertham would doubtless be proud of, for all the wrong reasons. Unfortunately, if such press sources were active during the 1950s, chances are they wouldn't utter a word against what Wertham led to, and they certainly are complaining about wokeness today that's ruined the Superman mythos. Viewed through that perspective, it's not a great time to be a Super-fan.

But when it comes to the older stuff from the Silver Age, yes, that's what makes it great to be a Super-fan. And again, I do hope more of that will eventually become available in dedicated reprint archives covering whole eras consistently. That makes it far easier to judge all the stories from an era where, while obviously not all was perfect, there was still plenty that could be better than what's seen today.

Another "flashback" Marvel miniseries, for Psylocke

Comic Book Movie announces Marvel has another Tim Seeley-penned miniseries coming up following his Rogue: The Savage Land story, this being a miniseries starring Psylocke in the Asian form she'd taken on around 1989, and appears to also involve a woman who'd been part of Daredevil's history penned by Frank Miller:

A secret chapter of X-Men history is revealed this January in the pages of Psylocke: Ninja, a five-issue limited series written by Tim Seeley (Rogue: The Savage Land) and illustrated by Nico Leon (Marvel Rivals: Infinity Comic).

Following recent hit series like Rogue: The Savage Land and Emma Frost: The White Queen, Psylocke: Ninja further explores and adds startling depth to a character’s most defining era, taking place shortly after Betsy Braddock’s transformation by the Hand in the early ‘90s that turned the X-Men’s posh telepath into a deadly psychic ninja.

Before she rejoins the X-Men, Betsy’s new body and skills are put to the ultimate test when she’s targeted by Marvel’s most lethal assassin: Elektra!

The question here is whether Elektra Nachios is portrayed as reformed, because that's what first took place the year after she died from Bullseye's assault, and was later resurrected by the Hand. By 1994, when she turned up again in DD's series, she'd continued her reformation. That having been said, it's admittedly interesting how Marvel wants to revist some of these eras, which some might interpret as an attempt to show they respect continuity as it was up to the early 2000s, but it's still not enough to convince Marvel's worth reading again. Even DC could be doing similar harkenings back to storylines written up to the early 2000s, and it still wouldn't make it okay to just buy their stuff after how bad they've become with their wokeness.

Greek artist specializing in horror comics takes left-wing view of the world

Global Voices interviewed an artist in Greece specializing in the horror genre, Nikos Tragganidas Posazennikov, who regrettably is quite the leftist and even anti-Israel:

Athens-based horror artist Nikos Tragganidas Posazennikov, more commonly known as Nick, channels his political outrage into comics that confront government corruption, authoritarian abuse, and the neglect of ordinary citizens. Raised in a politically engaged family, Nick was discouraged from pursuing an art career. However, he followed his own path as a comic book artist, animator, and musician.

Somehow, I doubt he's got any concerns about the corruption that's led to Islam's dominance in Europe, mainly because of what he sides with:

GV: What message do you try to convey with your work?

Nick: I started as a horror artist and didn’t expect my work to become so political. I always wanted to have a message, but early on, I didn’t know what direction to take because I was still learning how to draw.

Then Tempi happened, and I was furious. That was the first time I created a piece about a specific event. It was cathartic, I felt I was contributing to the broader conversation about these issues.

After October 7, 2023 [the start of Israel's ongoing war against Gaza], I created pieces about Palestine, and it snowballed from there. I still consider myself a horror artist, but now I focus on a different kind of horror; the horror of real life and the political landscape.

Wow, sounds like we have another Joe Sacco variation here who doesn't give a damn about the Islamic-influenced barbarism the inhabitants of Gaza went by. Apparently, in his twisted view, they can commit savage crimes and not have to see any punishment meted out. One can only wonder what he thinks of al Qaeda and what they did on September 11, 2001, and what jihadists did to victims of the Bataclan massacre in France during 2015 too. The irony is that the man supposedly cares about issues like femicide:

GV: Your comic blends horror with social critique. What inspired you to tackle issues like femicides and state violence through this genre?

Nick: In horror stories, ghosts usually exist because of a tragedy — a murder or an accident — and the solution is always to banish the ghost. But that felt empty to me. The systemic problems that led to the tragedy persist.

Take the common trope of a husband killing his wife, and she becomes a ghost. The story ends when the ghost disappears, but what about the femicide that caused it? I wanted to flip that and create a character who recognizes that to stop hauntings. You need to stop the injustices behind them: femicides, wrongful arrests, state violence.

Regrettably, despite what he claims to be worried about, based on what he's conveyed so far, it's unlikely he cares about femicide when the Religion of Peace is the culprit. There's no mention of Islam in GV's interview, and if the topic was suppressed and obscured, all that does is make clear they're not serious. And towards the end:

GV: If you could send a message to others in the struggle, what would it be?

Nick: Keep fighting.

Keep creating art. Art is a crucial part of resisting oppression — though sometimes even movements underestimate it. People often ignore articles or even photos and videos from real atrocities, because they’re too uncomfortable.

But art reaches them differently. I once spoke with an artist from Gaza who changed my perspective. You can see countless photos from Gaza, but one drawing by a Palestinian artist can communicate emotions more personal and direct.

That’s why I believe we must keep making art — make it as political as possible, promote artists, and never stop fighting.

So I guess he buys every little bit of taqqiya (deception) he's sold about Gaza's vile inhabitants who took part in the massacre 2 years ago, and quite possibly doesn't give a damn the Hamas murdered alleged collaborators with Israel. As a result, I'm not convinced he's really concerned about issues like femicide, and even that part of the discussion remains ambiguous. Also, while it's bad enough he considers the horror genre such a big deal, that he wants to politicize art is practically what's brought it all down over the past quarter century. This is precisely what's wrong with art as we know it today, and coupled with all the dishonesty the interviewee upholds, that's why it's become such a disaster.

Some fishy and troubling panels from the portfolio of the disgraced artist Justiniano

In past years, I'd taken a look at the shoddy resumes of terrible writers like Gerard Jones and Neil Gaiman, who were both accused of sexual misconduct, but until now, I don't think I'd ever looked at the works of artists who were accused/prosecuted/convicted of similar offenses. So now, I thought it could come in useful to take a look at a number of panels from the portfolio of the disgraced artist Justiniano (whose real name is said to be Josue Rivera), the earliest comics contributor I know of to be arrested and convicted for possession of child porn, which was almost 15 years ago.

To be sure, figuring out the mindset of a corrupt artist can be trickier than that of a corrupt writer, since the artist's job is primarily to realize the visions of the writer for a comic, but of course there are plenty of artists who're as much part of the creative process in developing a story as there are writers, and can be just as responsible for certain ingredients going into the script, maybe even more. So I guess that's what I wanted to investigate here, and while some of the fishy going-ons in these samples could be more the responsibility of the writers, the artist still could be just as responsible for anything terrible that occurs in them. Justiniano, from what I know, originally began his undeserved career in 1995, and most interesting is that while he was in the business for 15 years, much of his pretentious resume was largely guest roles; almost none of his portfolio contains any regular runs, save for maybe 2 miniseries, which are decidedly some of the worst stuff I've ever seen, having reevaluated whatever artwork he did within that time. One can also wonder if the abusive mindset Justiniano went by that got him jailed for at least a few years explains why he signed almost his entire resume under a pseudonym. He began with at least 2 stories for Marvel, and much of the rest of his career in mainstream was for DC. So, let's take a look for starters at a panel he drew for Incredible Hulk #434, which had been written for over a decade by the late Peter David:

Now, I know David was, sadly, quite a leftist himself, and this looks rather oddly like an early insult to Donald Trump, but for all we know, even Justiniano could've been just as negative towards conservatives back in the day. Next is a fishy item from What If's 2nd volume, issue 69:

So there's an odd comment made about who designed the costumes in this tale, as though Justiniano was trying an absurd defense for how uninspired they really are, and a precursor to something else that came along a few years later, which is coming up next. But first, from Young Justice 80-page Giant, written by the aforementioned David:

Viewed in the context of Justiniano's offenses, one could say the irony here is that somebody may have to watch in horror at how Justiniano turned out to be somebody abusive to children. Something which, if realists want to prevent it, should not be just a distant memory, nor any of Justiniano's other insults to the intellect when he was working in mainstream comicdom. And then, look at how the dialect speaks of "evil preying upon the weak", and somebody having "no imagination". Because that can just as easily sum up what a scumbag like Justiniano was doing, and what he was like too. Now, for a 4-part miniseries spotlighting Beast Boy from the Titans, which was co-written by Geoff Johns and Ben Raab, and decidedly did no favors in the long run for Flamebird/Bette Kane. For example:

The story is weak, and decidedly so is the whole cliche of a woman who turns out to be a villainess being drawn as sexy, not to mention how the sexual harrasment scene in the story turned out to be a setup. Based on Justiniano's behavior, or viewed in that context, that's why it could be argued what he did here was almost like a bizarre denial that sexual misconduct exists, making it look like, not only do all women lie about being victims of sexual misconduct, but that such lies are routine, and this was about 4 years before the offensive Identity Crisis miniseries was published.

And here, what's annoying is how Flamebird's made to look stupid, as though she couldn't figure out the police won't take checks by masked superdoers if they don't have the actual identity and credentials of the signer. In other words, the writers and artist made Bette look like a bimbo, and certainly worse than "ditzy". Also, regarding the costume design, did I mention it looks like she's wearing trousers in this story? When George Perez designed her post-Crisis outfit in the late 80s, it had bare leg style. I guess this was Justiniano's way of virtue-signaling, by toning down how hot Bette could be under better creators. (Update: there do also appear to be some early art samples from the times where Bette does appear to be drawn with trousers, but the poorly designed outfit by Justiniano seen below still stands as a shoddy example of virtue-signaling.) And then:

So first, Nightwing puts her down, and her way of proving she's up to the task of being a "serious" crimefighter is to design a more modest outfit - with decidedly unappealing shades of color, I might add - and she even has shorter hair in this redesign. This too, if to focus on the artist, reeks of another example of tasteless virtue-signaling. Obviously, even the writers have to shoulder blame for what I think is a most shoddy costume design, but again, if the artist has fault here, then this is quite possibly another example of how Justiniano sought to conceal what a scumbag he really was, an early example of wokeness, and for the time, it's amazing he still drew Bette as busty, because today, without a doubt, the disgraceful people now minding the store at DC would make sure even that was destroyed. Back at the time, I may not have particularly minded the costume design when I first saw it, but today, I think it's one of the most horrible I've ever seen, and an insult to the original creators of Bat-Girl/Flamebird. Next is another atrocious scene, along with one more panel:

Gee, that's all we need, a shoddy excuse to see Beast Boy hitting a woman, in a comic illustrated by a man who was arrested/convicted for child porn possession, right? As for that panel where Bette is helping unpack accessories and furniture, perhaps based on Justiniano's rancid behavior that got him jailed and destroyed his career, it could be argued he had no business drawing the alleged cousin of Gar staring at her rear, though even that's watered down, along with her hair. Also, the whole idea of Madame Rouge having a daughter who's as shape-shifting as she was is contrived, as the scene where Gar socks her is disgusting. I don't think the daughter character was ever seen again, but regardless of that, this was an early example of how DC was losing direction when Geoff Johns became a writer for them. Here's also a letter page from the miniseries:

What makes Justiniano's artwork here a "revelation"? His art for the time was otherwise uninspired and overrated. And neither Johns nor Raab did a good writing job here. The miniseries may have been reprinted as part of the subsequent Teen Titans series Johns also wrote, but today I'd recommend it not be reprinted for a long time so as not to finance Justiniano's wallet, and besides, IMO, nobody would be missing anything; it's just so tiresome.

Now, since the Titans are one of the items to which Justiniano had art credits, here's at least 3 panels from issues 3-4 of the 1999-2003 series for starters, which was initially written by Devin Grayson, and the 1st annual, which was again written by Johns and Raab:

Now, as you'll notice here, Starfire's wearing a less revealing outfit. How fascinating, viewed in the context of Justiniano's offenses, that one of the most beloved cast members of the Titans is being drawn with an outfit that conceals her legs and arms, if anything. It's certainly enough to wonder why Wonder Woman sometimes seems like the only DC superheroine whose hot outfit anybody in or out of the company is willing to respect and defend. This is also what some tend to call a form of virtue-signaling, and obviously, an attempt by the artist to hide behind "morality" while concealing his dark side. Oddly enough, when Johns and Mike McKone penned their shoddy take on Teen Titans in 2003, they actually had Starfire wearing the classic outfit, but by the following decade, DC were forcing designs similar to what Justiniano drew here onto her and the stories. Perhaps we have Scott Lobdell, another creator with a questionable record of his own, to partially blame for that.

Now here, we see a guy making a lewd-looking pass at whom I think is the "Joker's Daughter", and next comes a very questionable moment where sexual abuse is brought up, and there's 2 reasons why that part's been damaged: one is Justiniano's being the artist, but there's also Grayson's own embarrassingly bad subsequent story in Nightwing where she depicted a crook named Tarantula sexually assaulting the former Teen Wonder, although to Mrs. Grayson's credit, she did later apologize, unlike Brad Meltzer, who to date has never apologized for minimizing the subject in Identity Crisis. Next, from the Titans annual:

There's 2 reasons why this would-be "joke" tanks - one is because of the artist, and the second is because it also evokes an Islamic belief that it's okay to have sex with goats. Let's also recall Johns later came up with a Muslim character in Green Lantern, all written for the sake of making a political statement, so perhaps it's not too surprising he, along with Raab, would come up with a "joke" involving animals that doesn't hold up well when one considers what goes on in the Islamic world.

I don't like what reeks of an allusion to video games like Mortal Kombat either, and the way the Japanese guy is written calling Flamebird "stupid American" is decidedly also annoying. Also notice how the flat-tire sex jokes continue here. (Also, the way the name of the team uses logo-style letters in the word balloon was laughable long ago.) That aside, note how Justiniano's shoddy, poorly colored redesign of Bette's costume is also on display here, and funny how Flash and Arsenal are written insulting both the costume and her "new attitude", which in the following panels includes bleeped profanity:

Wow, so in order to depict her as more "serious", she has to be portrayed as more profane too? More of what the world needs, naturally. Johns, Raab and Justiniano's take on Flamebird is decidedly one of the worst. Now, here's some panels from 2 issues of the Flash's 2nd volume that were illustrated by Justiniano, 190 and 219. First:

Now, if we were to comment on Justiniano's behavior through this stuff, one could say he didn't listen to victims of sexual abuse when he hoarded child pornography that later got discovered after he accidentally gave a computer memory plug to a staffer at a funeral home. Also, if to comment on the premise of the Trickster himself becoming an FBI agent, even by the surreal standards of a fictional world like the DCU, that's still asking readers to buy a lot, based on all the criminal activities James Jesse performed in earlier stories. And the way the Pied Piper, Hartley Rathaway, is depicted calling upon rats as a backup is honestly disgusting. It should be noted this story alludes to the homosexual status William Messner-Loebs bestowed upon the Piper back in 1990, and one can only wonder if Justiniano took the job guest-penciling this issue as another way to virtue-signal from a leftist perspective. Now from issue 219:

In addition to crude and overrated the artwork looks here, a sign of how Justiniano's art was becoming more mediocre over time, we see for example the disgusting sight of how the Cheetah appears to have murdered a man for the sake of blood as a sacrifice ritual, and then, if we put in again in the context of Justiniano himself, that's awfully rich to depict somebody claiming he's not a villain, when the artist must've thought the same in his own insane way at the time, his criminal offense notwithstanding. Also note how this issue alludes to the repellent Identity Crisis and Dr. Light made out to sound like he's the victim, not Sue Dibny. And then:

How can the artist have committed a serious crime and thought he wasn't crazy? His brain clearly didn't grow with the rest of himself either. Not to mention that again, his artwork looks increasingly galling here too, as is the next panel:

Which again alludes disgustingly to Identity Crisis, and the way some heroines are dragged into the mess in the dialogue is also atrocious. So too is the following:

A few pages prior, Johns' shoddy caricature of the Reverse-Flash told Cheetah he was only seeking to make the Flash a "better hero", but here, this is the result of his causing a police car to explode, murdering 2 officers inside. And then:

An elderly woman is murdered by the Cheetah, making for another atrocious example of how death-violence was becoming much too emphasized at the time. This story was wrapped up in an issue of Wonder Woman it crossed over with. But even there, it was embarrassingly bad, and this story hints at how Justiniano was lending his "talents" to increasingly dark storytelling. On which note, here's another something horrific, a page from Day of Vengeance, which was closely tied to the Infinite Crisis crossover, and written by none other than Bill Willingham:

This is decidedly the only page I'll be posting here, because the way it forced Jean Loring into such a repulsive position - turning her into a much more twisted female version of Eclipso, was unbearably sick. I remember an Ohio newspaper writer saying it looked like one end of a conversation in which a woman is being sexually harassed. This is another example of the kind of increasingly dark and vile stories Justiniano was contributing to, and he must've really enjoyed what he was doing, based on how negative the scripts were to women. As for Willingham, this is exactly why, to date, I couldn't bring myself to buy Fables, because his willingness to write such repellent stories that contradict whatever positive messaging he allegedly had to offer in the Fables series. As a right-winger, one could say he gave the standing a bad name, and in an industry now dominated by leftists, he has to shoulder some blame for perpetuating some of the tactics they uphold, like insulting fanbases. How does Willingham feel about having worked with an artist who turned out to be a pervert? Who knows? All I know is that any continued refusal of his to apologize for participating in Dan DiDio's repellent conduct 2 decades ago speaks volumes. If there's something that shouldn't be reprinted based on the artist's offenses in real life, this would have to be it. Now, here's at least 2 panels from Justiniano's work on a volume of the Creeper back then:

Somehow, this reeks of more liberal propaganda, and honestly sounds stupid regardless. Yet that could explain why the disgraceful Justiniano took this art task.

And when this scene more noticeably makes it sound like the Creeper is some sort of a right-wing villain controlling a left-winger, that's got to be telling too. All that aside, it's disgusting. Now, here's some panels from a miniseries Justiniano drew called - are you ready for this? - Reign in Hell, and it was written by Keith Giffen:

Another disgusting example of where Justiniano was going in terms of art assignments, and the part about the lead "not getting married" decidedly speaks volumes too; notice how the girl's made to look like she's an idiot and the guy with the hat implies women are all jerks or worse. In context of Justiniano's offenses, that could be giving another vital clue what was wrong with him. Now, here's some panels from one of the last projects he worked on, some series DC published based on Will Eisner's Spirit, in a sad example of how a mainstream company that's no longer qualified to handle a famous artist's creations got their mitts on them...and has now tainted them with the art of a bad man:

There's something troubling about the above panels for starters when it involves "bratty" kids causing an annoyance with their sobbing.

And then, what's this? Some attempt to make it sound like the villain called Octopus is trying to brainwash the lady into something perverse? When an artist as awful as Justiniano turned out to be draws something like this, something is terribly wrong.

Oh, and is this some kind of subtle insult to Ellen Dolan, made worse by conveying it through the mouth of another woman? It certainly serves as an example of how profanity was really becoming used in ridiculous, heavy handed ways by this time.

"Through with female bodies"? Again, we have something that, viewed in context of the scoundrel artist, winds up being fishy.

And what's this, an attempt to disguise the artist's twisted mindset by having a woman be the one to do something potentially scummy? Well, it's certainly fishy and irritating viewed in that context. I know there were a number of Golden Age stories where Dennis Colt took on villainesses, but here, it all takes on a whole new meaning under Justiniano.

Now here, this is a rare example for its time where Islamic terrorism is alluded to, but they make it look like even Indians pull such monstrosities, for example, and that's offensive. Also disturbing is the realization the Octopus here could be a metaphor for the USA, which would make it another leftist example of claiming westerners sell and fund their own destruction.

Now it's not like the French are saints, but the way this story makes them out to look bad, as in the case of the lady crook, or just plain stupid, as in the case of the male detective, has gotten old and rotten 10 million years ago. And again, when somebody like Justiniano is the artist, what's seen here takes on a whole new meaning. Not to mention that by today's standards, considering what France has been victimized by today, that's another reason this story hasn't aged well.

Here's another something that's been massively damaged viewed in light of Justiniano's crimes. Also note how the broadcast is on "Pox News", apparently their idea of a stealth insult to Fox broadcasting, and the following character in the next panels reeks of a potential metaphor for conservative-run companies:

It wouldn't surprise me if the bigwig Dennis Colt is confronting were a metaphor for figures like Rupert Murdoch. Otherwise, chances DC would actually publish this drivel misusing Eisner's creation are minimal. And then, look how they bring up Andy Warhol's point about 15 minutes of fame. That's what Justiniano brought himself in the end when he was arrested for illegally storing child porn.

Anyway, it's been about 15 years since Justiniano's worthless career collapsed, and while I realize the above panels may not all entirely reflect his political outlook alone, since the writers obviously are the primary source of such viewpoints, it's still possible they could offer what to think about when it comes to Justiniano's twisted viewpoints, and could explain why he took the assignments in his shoddy career that was built almost entirely upon guest penciling, and became increasingly mediocre or worse by the time he was arrested. What he did to Flamebird - and especially to Jean Loring - is decidedly inexcusable. I find it embarrassingly bad that any artists on Deviant Art would draw illustrations of Bette Kane wearing the outfit Justiniano concocted, which pales horribly next to the design Perez drew for her in the late 80s, and hope there's artists out there who're willing to draw something dedicated more to Perez's designs. It'd also be highly appreciated if there's any artists willing to draw illustrations of Jean Loring dedicated to her image as a good girl too. Thank goodness what I've seen of Starfire on Deviant Art has more that's dedicated to Perez's costume designs for her from 45 years ago.

And let's hope we never see Justiniano trying to reenter the art profession again. He really was a bad influence, and his use of a pseudonym has to be quite telling too.