My Week(s) In Comics 2-9-11, 2-16-11

I'm two weeks behind in this so I'm not going to write a lot about each of these. There are times when I feel like I'm not inspired enough and maybe I shouldn't bother writing about my weekly comic book haul. However, unlike many comics creators, publishers, fans, etc., I believe continuity is important. So, starting with the 9th:

Superman 708: Still not into this walking-across-America thing but developments here at least hint at a possible explanation for Superman's mental malaise. Plus he meets Wonder Woman for the first time (well, first time since her whole timeline was changed in her book so that she's not a famous hero and no one knows who she is).


DC Comics Presents: Superman - Sole Survivor 1: A reprint of four comic books in one issue, a couple of stories, from 1998 and 2001, that somehow I missed before. The second one was actually more interesting, telling the story of a scientist who, when his planet is about to explode, launches his only child into outer space to save his life. Krypton? No, in this story it's Earth.

Victorian Undead II -- 4 (of 5): Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula, part four. Unlike last issue, lots of action. No actual appearance by Dracula, though. Unfortunately, he's in Buckingham Palace.

As for the 16th...

Comic Book Flashback: Brokeback Before Brokeback

A while back, during a dark week where I had no comic books to buy, I mentioned that I was considering re-reading something old and writing a "flashback" post about it. At the time I had a vague thought of writing about "The Death of Superman," since it was that trade paperback collection that got me into this little obsession of mine. I never got around to it, though. Recently, I stumbled upon the news that Marvel Comics had released the first issue of "Rawhide Kid: The Sensational Seven," a four-issue follow-up of sorts to the 2003 miniseries, "Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather." And the seeds for this post were planted.

Now, normally a comic book about cowboys wouldn't be something I'm interested in. In fact, the resurgence of superhero comics in the 1950s led to fewer books featuring cowboys and other non-superhero characters. Marvel's book starring the Rawhide Kid, a creation of legendary Stan Lee, held on until 1979 and the Kid was only seen in a couple of miniseries after that. But in 2003, for the "Slap Leather" mini, the Kid was given a slight character revamp: now he was gay.

And not just gay, but gay. I mean, really gay. He's well-dressed, well-spoken, sophisticated and rather flamboyant. He makes no bones about what he likes. For example, here's what he says when some kids (small-k, as in youngsters) ask him about other famous gunfighters, including the Lone Ranger:

Quick(?) review: Make The Yuletide Gay

"Make The Yuletide Gay" is probably destined to become a yearly holiday tradition on Logo, the gay cable network. (Pause for some enterprising TLA Releasing person to edit that into "'Destined to become a holiday tradition!' - Joe Guckin, The Joe In Philly Experience!" and put it on the DVD cover, or at least in print ads. There. My naked bid for attention is complete.)

This film screened at the Philadelphia QFest (which used to be called the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, which led to the unfortunate acronym of PIGLFF) but I was unable to attend the two scheduled showings. Fortunately, the film was named a Festival Favorite and was shown again on the final night of QFest.

College sweethearts Olaf "Gunn" Gunnunderson and Nathan Stanford are headed to their respective family homes for the Christmas holiday. Nathan then finds out that his parents (including Gates McFadden of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" fame) won a trip to Israel and conveniently forgot to inform him until the day before his flight home. Rather than stay in an empty home, Nathan decides to make the trip to Wisconsin and surprise Gunn, only to be surprised himself: his boyfriend, out and proud on campus, isn't out to his family. Gunn's dad is a stoner and his mom is a Christmas freak, dontcha know (she talks like that); she's constantly spouting double-entendres and trying to fix her son up with Abby, a girl he dated in high school. (Abby's mom is played by Alison Arngrim -- Nellie Oleson from "Little House on the Prairie, and that fact is referenced in the movie.) It started a little slow for me, but got funnier as it went along. It plays out sort of as you'd expect, but with enough odd twists to keep it interesting. Nathan is played by Adamo Ruggiero. Adamo was Marco, a teenager who came out of the closet on "Degrassi: The Next Generation" -- what is it with the "Next Generation" trend? Now he's 23, utterly adorable (just look at that photo), out of the closet in real life also, and as of the time this profile appeared, still single. Call me, Adamo! I gave you a blurb for the DVD box, so you owe me! My grade: B-plus.