The unwitting victim of Batman, Inc.

Wonder if he gets benefits?

The best superhero in a skirt...

...is Magnus, Robot Fighter, without a doubt.  Oh, you were thinking Miss Martian, maybe?  Or Supergirl?  Nope.  It's this guy.  Yep, that's right, I said "guy."

Eat your heart out, Hal Jordan.

Well, I didn't say "guy," I typed it.  But enough of that.

Don't let the skirt fool you.  If you're an evil robot overlord, you better watch yourself, or you'll get torn in two.

It's called a tunic, dammit!!!  How many times do I have to tell you people that?!  I will take out my agression on this helpless Pol-Rob.  RAWRRGGH!!!

Or cleaved down the middle like warm butter...

DeviantArt by Cinar.

Or you'll get your robot head karate-chopped off.

Bringing sexy back, one lethal backhand at a time.

DeviantArt by DocShaner.

So, lesson learned: never get on the wrong side of a man who wears a skirt.

The superhero attraction

Why do characters endure?  It's something I've thought about.  Can anyone really explain it?  (I bet Joseph Campbell could.)

Sometimes it's hard to believe that Superman is over 70 years old, and yet he's become a part of American pop culture.  Then again, Romeo and Juliet are hundreds of years older, and the heroes of mythology are thousands of years older, and they're still going strong.

I wonder if somewhere deep in our brains there's a little cell that lights up when we hear stories about beings more powerful than us.  Or smarter than us.  Or braver, or stronger.  Why is that?  Do we want to know that it's possible to be better than we currently are?  Or do we want to know that there are other people out there who are grander than us and can take care of our problems for us?  Are heroes reflections of who we are or visions or who we want to become?  Are they idols to worship, or saviors to deliver us?

Some have considered superheroes (or aliens, or supernatural events) a proxy for the human genetic need to believe in something greater than ourselves.  Dean Hamer called it the "god gene."  Except we don't need to believe that superheroes in order to be attracted to them.  I don't think a Kryptonian is going to fall down to Earth and save us anytime soon, and yet I respond to the idea of "Superman" on a very visceral level.  Maybe heroes tap into a genetic desire for self-preservation and safety.

Or maybe it's one level higher.  Maybe the superhero attraction taps into our hard-wired moral predilictions.  Maybe we don't think there's enough justice in the world, so we like reading stories about justice-seekers who right the wrongs of their fictional universe.  Maybe if these fictional heroes can do good in their world, we can apply the same methods to bring justice to ours.

Maybe it's more vague, more "human."  Maybe we just need to look in a mirror from time to time.  Maybe the attraction just comes from seeing a character who reminds us of ourselves, whose heart is in the right place, whose suffered a few losses, who tries and fails and decides to try again, or who's lost something and moves beyond it, and maybe we need someone like that to look up to as a template of human behavior.

All these thoughts are swirling around in my head.  I see comics as a very primal force that meets some deep-seated needs in my brain.  I think that is why I like some books and not others: the books I don't like fail to meet some hard-wired need in my brain.  That little Greater Than Me cell isn't lighting up in my brain, and I'm not happy.  The story isn't connecting with me on an emotional level, or an idealogical one, or a moral one, or a human one.  When a character doesn't act better than I do, then it's not a story worthy of myth.  Then it's just real life.

And real life kinda sucks.

This post is really long and dreary, so I included a picture of two squirrels kissing to make you all happy again.

Happy March! or, a Poison Ivy sketch by Adam Hughes

Oh, Adam Hughes.  You have one heck of a sense of humor.

I know, it's a little bit NSFW, but it's just too darn funny not to post.  Plus it's actually March, so that's two reasons!

More thoughts on Young Justice

After a week off, Young Justice returned to the air with a new episode.  Last night's episode, "Downtime," focused mainly on Aqualad while he spent some time in...am I getting this right: Poseidinus?  I guess that's the Atlantean capital city, from the looks of it.

While I'm not much of an Aqua-fan, I have to say that first off I was pretty disappointed by Mera's character design.

The cool thing about Mera is her scaled bodysuit, no?  The halter bikini top/pareo and random bits of chiffonn thingy just isn't regal enough for me.  Besides, she has such pretty hair!  Why pull that back into a ponytail?  Oh, and her crown was ugly, too.  Sorry, Mera, don't take it personally.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, I says.

Aqualad noodles around with Tula, Garth (the original Aqualad, I think), and some Atlantean sorcery.  Retcons abound, but I'm getting so immune to retcons I barely notice them anymore.  The retconning bothered me a lot less than the animator's choice of underwater mechanics: when Aquaman looks awkward swimming, you know you've got a problem.

Highlight of the episode: Superboy can't figure out how to use a satellite TV.  Even someone with superpowers has trouble with that.  Now I don't feel so bad.

Oh, and Miss Martian is quite the cook.  An awkward, ditzy cook, but cute nonetheless.

Denny Colt is watching you...

...via Google.

Actually, this has nothing to do with Denny Colt's cockeyed voyeurism of you, but actually is to celebrate what could be Will Eisner's 94th birthday.

Will Eisner was a pretty cool guy, and the folks at Bleeding Cool do a lot better job than singing his praises than I do.

I'm just happy that an icon of comics history got his own Google doodle, and I'd be even happier if people got to know who Will Eisner was because of it.