Girls Gone Geek

Some of the best characters are villains, and one of my favorite villains is Alice. That is, Kate Kane’s thought-to-be-dead twin sister Elizabeth, who was actually kidnapped in childhood and tortured by terrorists, eventually becoming the Religion of Crime’s High Madame.

Her alternate personality is a beautifully twisted version of Alice Pleasance Liddell of Wonderland fame. Fans of Greg Rucka’s Detective Comics/Batwoman run were all set for an entire Alice story arc. I know I was. Alas, her tragic origin story was cut short by Rucka’s abrupt departure from DC. We were robbed, damn it. ROBBED! What we did get of her left me jonesin’ for more. The last time we saw Alice was at the end of the “Elegy” story, when she fell into the ocean after a fistfight on a plane with her sis. Her body was never found. Rucka stated he had her origin story planned and was ready to write. I hope that one day he will grace us (and DC) with said story. In the mean time, I hope all other writers keep their hands off of this amazing character.

JH Williams‘s phenomenal rendering of Alice was interesting and unique. You could tell by looking at her that she was clearly insane, yet the design and colors were were still so pretty. His concept of Alice made for some of the best cover art I’ve ever seen. While the character was only half featured on some of the covers of Detective Comics, the art was clearly designed to foreshadow her presence in the story and her connection to Kate. Fans will have to wait and see if we’ll ever get another look at Alice. In the meantime, I may have to keep the dream alive with the coolest cosplay costume EVER.

While V. and I celebrated the news that J.H. Williams III will write and illustrate a regular Batwoman comic, it occurred to me that reading comics is a bit like dating. The sheer variety is exciting, but once you really connect with a title (or five), it’s like magic. You’re positively giddy on the Wednesdays that it ships, and you can’t wait to curl up and spend time with it.

Then, inevitably, things get all weird. Maybe the creative team changes and there’s a steep decline in quality, or a larger event gums up the works. Pissed off and confused, you start talking about breaking up and seeing other titles — maybe even other publishers. Call me a sucker, but the Williams announcement is the equivalent of a beautiful flower arrangement or a Tiffany charm bracelet sent just in the nick of time. Maybe it doesn’t completely atone for Rucka’s departure and the Power Girl craziness and the iffy Wonder Woman announcement, but it’s still pretty wonderful.

Together, Rucka and Williams created a stunning series of Batwoman stories in Detective Comics, and Williams’ illustrations were so beautifully and thoughtfully executed that they set a new standard for the comics medium. With Rucka out of the picture, it’s a huge relief to know that Williams will stay on as Kate Kane’s caretaker, so to speak. He struck all the right notes in an interview with Comic Book Resources, showing appreciation for Rucka’s vision while making the case for his own. Plus, his enthusiasm for Batwoman and her supporting cast members, including cousin Bette Kane (Flamebird), is palpable. As Williams himself put it, “I just kind of felt like, ‘OK, if anyone can do the character any justice, it would be me.’ ” It’s a bonus that current Madame Xanadu artist Amy Reeder will provide her considerable talents on the second arc.

DC, consider your telephone number unblocked. For now.

To paraphrase our friend Shag of Once Upon a Geek, sometimes our hobby hurts us and it doesn’t love us back. That’s a pretty good summary of how I felt last week when V. dropped the news that Greg Rucka, one of our favorite comic book writers, was parting ways with DC.

I’m running out of ways to say how much this sucks. Rucka’s run on Wonder Woman was, in my opinion, second only to George Perez’s 1980s reboot — and a close one. Along with artist J.H. Williams III, he created a killer origin story for Batwoman via Detective Comics, which was easily one of the best stories I read last year. I was looking forward to their rumored reunion on a standalone Batwoman comic, and I was frankly crushed to learn that he wouldn’t be stepping in for Gail Simone once she departs Wonder Woman.

I know Rucka has his critics, and I’ve heard all the lame jokes about how he specializes in troubled lesbians. (No one ever jokes about Geoff Johns specializing in idealized white guys, but I digress.) To many a fangirl, he is one of a handful of writers who not only gets strong, female characters, but seems to genuinely like them. In a candid interview with Comics Alliance, Rucka shed some light an an issue that V. and I have talked about many times — people who either dislike Wonder Woman outright or don’t know what the hell to do with her: “A lot of the guys who have written her don’t like her; they just want to f–k her. … And people want to simplify her, so they go, ‘She’s Superman with tits.’ No, she’s not.”

As RuPaul would say, “Can I get an amen?”

I’ll leave it to others to speculate about the reasons behind Rucka’s departure, though he certainly has a lot of other cool projects on his plate. I’m willing to believe that the man simply has other stories he wants to tell, and that he’s looking for new challenges as a writer. But … but … but. While talking about the Batwoman stories he and Williams had hoped to do, Rucka said something that stopped me in my tracks: ” ‘Elegy’ was supposed to be four issues; there were supposed to be three issues that were ‘Go,’ and then there was a five-part story that Jim and I had, but because of a variety of things in-house at DC, we were moved out of Detective [Comics] and we couldn’t tell the story there.”

Seriously? He and Williams were moved off of Detective Comics, despite making it one of DC’s most buzzworthy books of 2009? What the hell?!

Anyone who reads comics for any length of time is going to be disappointed by something — a character dies, a beloved writer or artist moves on, an awesome book is cancelled. That’s life. But something about this announcement, on top of recent DC bombshells about Wonder Woman and Power Girl, put me in a seriously foul mood. Aside from Gail’s return to Birds of Prey, I can’t think of a single upcoming DC event that I’m genuinely excited about — and that makes me wonder whether it’s time to back away from the caped entertainment and start exploring more independent comics.

I’m tempted to say that I might be expecting too much, but my standard for comics is no higher than it is for any other form of entertainment. And thanks to dream teams like Rucka and Williams, among others, I know what comic books are truly capable of.

I’ve made no secret of my admiration for Gail Simone. Her writing is smart, interesting and fun, and she can write the hell out of a kick-ass chick. Many of my favorite characters are so because of her capable hand in their development. At the top of that list is Lady Shiva. I’ll keep it real. I didn’t know much about Sandra Wu-San until she showed up in Birds of Prey. OK, I didn’t know much of anything before I read BoP, but there was a long list of supporting characters throughout Simone’s arc. Shiva was my favorite by far.

As we’ve seen in Secret Six, no one does amoral with Gail’s flair. Amoral characters are intriguing because they do the things our conscience and social mores prevent us from doing. We get to live our fantasies through them, and their writers aren’t limited by pesky issues like virtue. Plus, Shiva is a straight-up beast. She’s kicked more asses than you’ve read comics. She’s fast, ingenious, wicked, and not at all afraid to die. That final fact alone makes her a force to be reckoned with. I firmly believe that she could defeat Deathstroke (See previous poll). All Shiva needs is a two-second window, and he’s done for — genetic engineering be damned. Shiva would engineer a beatdown.

To drive the point home, here are some of my favorite Lady Shiva quotes:

“I believe in letting people do as they wish, as do I myself. Sometimes, of course, what I wish to do is kill them and they do not wish to die. This gives life interest.” – The Question #29

“I am not allowing you to pass out. I want your men to see you beg. Then you will apologize with a pain you will remember always.” – Birds of Prey #62

“All this ceremony, and the truth is: the body decays, the spirit is lost. It means nothing. Ashes or earth, I hardly see the significance of where they lay your corpse.” – Birds of Prey #68

“If you ever touch me again, I shall shatter three bones in your arm: the humerus, the radius, and the ulna. I shall shatter them in such a way that shards will protrude into the nerves, causing intense pain! I shall shatter them in such a way that no Western doctor will be able to repair them. Your arm will thereafter dangle from your shoulder like a dead fish. Do you understand?”

And my favorite:

“Perhaps death is just a little bit afraid of me.” – Birds of Prey #63

So, I’m riding the wave of Shiva-is-a-bad-ass-bitch, and as per usual, once she was out of Gail’s hands, someone added suckage to her repertoire. I realize this is part of the multiple-writers nature of comics. I’m not that bitter. But chocolate? As in, Robin (Tim Drake) defeats Shiva by sending her some drug-laced chocolate? Really? Bullshit!

I seriously doubt that a world-class mercenary/martial artist with so many enemies would even consider eating a piece of hotel chocolate. As E. pointed out, “She’s probably on a macrobiotic diet.” The poisoned chocolate was a flimsy attempt at strengthening Tim’s character, I guess because he and Shiva have a past. But honestly, who gives a fuck? This did a major disservice to Shiva’s character. Her sister was murdered, and her daughter broke her neck. Bottom line: Shiva should get more respect than that. As Black Canary put it, “In some countries, being killed by her brings eternal honor to your entire surviving family.”

With books coming back from the “dead” and all, we have The Question #37 written by Greg Rucka. Now, I almost love Rucka as much as I love Simone. He also understands the kick-ass chick. We’ll get to see my favorite DCU lesbian, Renee Montoya, a Black Lantern Vic Sage and (here’s the part that’s got me salivating) an appearance by Lady Shiva. She’s already got a past with Vic. Throw Montoya in the mix, and a few interesting worlds collide. Renee vs. Shiva? I’d like to see that mashup! Rucka had this to say, “[Shiva's] just entirely amoral and committed to her path. … She doesn’t care what you think, ever.” Color me blue, because THAT gives me hope.

Don't start none, won't be none.

One of the great pleasures of reading comics is finding an ideal marriage between writer and character. Greg Rucka just plain gets Wonder Woman, and his affection for the character is palpable in the three-issue Blackest Night tie-in. The first issue, featuring an Arlington Cemetery confrontation with a zombie-fied Maxwell Lord was good, but #2 sent me into a texting/e-mailing fangirl frenzy. [Spoilers ahead].

This issue goes deeper into the smackdown between a Black Lantern ring-possessed Wonder Woman and Mera, shown briefly in Blackest Night #6. The dialogue between these two royal superheriones is appropriately brutal, like something out of “Justice League Heathers.” When a rage-filled Mera schools Diana that “No queen takes orders from a princess,” Black Lantern Wondy is all, “Queen of what? Bitch, please. Everybody you love is dead, so bite me.” Or words to that effect.

Wonder Woman struggles to free herself from the ring’s evil influence, and basically wills Mera to kill her if that’s what it takes to make her stop. It’s one thing to tell readers that Diana’s heroism is rooted in love and goodness, but Rucka has always done a particularly good job of showing it without making her seem sappy.

If you’re the kind of person who tends to flip ahead and read a story out of order, don’t. All the Oh, Snap! moments — and there are several — really need to be experienced in order. (As someone who never warmed to Cassie Sandsmark, I confess to enjoying her Mean Girl treatment, courtesy of Donna Troy.) V gave me strict orders not to skip to the end, which would have ruined the money shot of Wonder Woman in a passionate liplock with … well, let’s just say it’s someone I’ve wanted her to hook up with for years. And he’s not from Smallville.

This is easily one of the better Blackest Night tie-in stories that I’ve read so far, and Nicola Scott’s art more than rises to the occasion. It almost makes up for that Star Sapphire costume craziness. Almost.

She's a ride-or-die chick.

As far as my comic-shop file is concerned, 2009 was a good year overall — and it really didn’t have that much to do with lantern rings and cape-baiting zombies. DC’s “Blackest Night” and many of the tie-ins have been perfectly enjoyable, but the books that stuck with me this year were more about individual characters than cataclysmic events. From the brilliant-while-it-lasted pairing of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely on “Batman and Robin,” to the nifty surprises of “Wednesday Comics” and “Superman: Secret Origin,” to the thank-God-it’s-still-good re-launch of Brian Michael Bendis’ “Ultimate Comics Spider-Man,” my pull list generally gave me a lot to look forward to on Wednesdays.

But no title rocked my world in 2009 quite like “Detective Comics” as conceived by writer Greg Rucka and artist J.H. Williams III. I expected Rucka’s writing to shine, but Williams’ visual storytelling has been extraordinary. In each of the seven issues (#854-860) this team has produced so far, Williams has executed pages that are unlike anything I’ve ever seen in a mainstream comic book. Brought to life by Dave Stewart’s expert coloring, Batwoman is frankly terrifying the first time she appears in issue #854, all pale skin, flame-red wig and shiny black bodysuit. Even her crimson lipstick is intimidating. (Dear M.A.C.: Consider making Batwoman the face of your next Viva Glam campaign.) If you’re up to no good, you do not want to meet this woman in an alley, period. That’s how it should be when someone wears the bat symbol.

Fortunately, the artwork serves a mighty good origin story. [Spoilers ahead] What motivates a privileged person, one who isn’t named Bruce Wayne, to put on a costume and stalk criminals at night? After the brutal loss of her mother and identical twin sister, Kate Kane follows in her military father’s footsteps rises through the U.S. Army ranks. But when she’s outed as a lesbian and refuses to lie about being gay, Kate is forced out of the service and becomes a woman adrift — at least, until a chance encounter with Batman inspires her to start taking a bite out of crime herself. Their wordless first meeting is one of my favorite visuals in this series, and though Kate is clearly in awe of Gotham’s dark knight, she didn’t need his help to whip her would-be attacker’s ass.

In Rucka’s hands, Kate has emerged as a truly interesting, complicated figure. I particularly like her kindred-spirit relationship with her dad, who uses his high-level military connections to support her crime-fighting. There’s tension between Kate and her wealthy stepmother, and it’s clear that she’s not entirely over Renee Montoya, aka The Question. A recent discovery about her twin sister, Beth, is a doozie. And of course, there’s that lingering issue of having been stabbed through the heart by a Religion of Crime crackhead.

Word is that Rucka and Williams will reunite in 2010 to continue Batwoman’s adventures in her own title. I’m going to file that under “Please, Please Be True.” After all, Gotham City needs all the help it can get, and I’m pretty well hooked now.