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Thanks to tits over at tits list for posting all about it.

Open Letter To Gail Simone: Birds of Prey's Carnivorous Choices

Today, Mister Fanboy Comics joins us for something ... odd.

Dear Ms. Simone:

I love Birds of Prey. There's no 2 cents about it. I jumped on the bandwagon when you started your run and there's no end in sight (in a good way). At first I was a bit flummoxed by the decision to move Black Canary off of the canvas for the time being, but the resulting influx of new characters is wonderful. I am particularly enjoying Manhunter and she-who-shall-remain-unnamed, so as to not spoil the surprise for those who haven't read issue #102, which came out today (although, in hindsight, it makes perfect sense). However, that's not why I am writing you.

I am writing because Birds of Prey is one of the few of my comics that my non-patchouli stinking eco-groovy granola girlfriend will read. That in and of itself is a good thing. However, I am afraid to share this issue with her? Why? Because of the menu choices by both Barbara Gordon/Oracle and Lois Lane. My girlfriend is majorly into marine conservation, and believes the best way for us regular people to do something is to not buy over-fished species. Shrimp, unless it comes from a trap and especially if it's farmed is a major no-no (yeah, I know it's counter-intuitive). So is orange roughy. Both species are disappearing at an alarming rate. See - she's even brainwashed me as I am spouting her eco-line of thinking. Visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium for more info. on what not to eat and what to eat. You can print a little card and take it along with you. I am never allowed to leave the house without mine. Gulp. So please, next time have them choose an Alaskan halibut or a Dungeness crab cake so that I can share the comic with her. Or veal. Oddly, she doesn't care about that.

Regards,

Mister Fanboy Comics

P.S. I hope that Manhunter becomes a permanent fixture of the book, especially in light of the news of her solo titles likely cancellation.

Civil War: Possible Hint To Outcome?

This is nothing more than irresponsible conjecture! So, let the irresponsibility begin ...

Today, in visiting a story on the upcoming Mighty Avengers cast at Newsarama, scribe Brian Michael Bendis says this, in taking about Luke Cage:

"Plus his relationship with Jessica becomes a real point of pride and
angst as their lives as rebels continue."

We'll post about the full cast of characters once they're all revealed.

The Onion Partners With Washington Post

In an article today, the Washington Post announced that it will begin distributing a printed version of the The Onion with its papers. It's the meeting of real news and satirical fake news. Last week, there were also rumors about that John Stewart would partner with the Washington Post for its 2008 Presidential Election coverage, though nothing definite has been announced.

Omega Flight #1 Cover

Wondering who's going to be in the cast to the apparent successor to Alpha Flight? Wonder no more ... well, that's not entirely true. We present to you the cover to Omega Flight #1. We are guessing that's U.S. Agent in the Captain America inspired uniform, along with Talisman, Arachne, Beta Ray Bill and Guardian (but who is in the costume?), in no particular order.

Manhunter To End???

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Loren's posted all about it over at his site. It can't hurt to write a letter to DC and let them know that you want Manhunter to continue. Even if you don't read comics, you can still send the letter :). Try addressing it to Dan DiDio. He saved the series once before.

Dan DiDio, Sr. VP-Executive Editor
1700 Broadway, 7th Fl.
New York, NY 10019-5905

Paltrow Cast In Iron Man Movie

Newsarama posted a press release from Marvel late yesterday which states that Gwenyth Paltrow has been cast as Pepper Potts, the secretary to Tony Stark (Iron Man) in the upcoming Iron Man film. We're still not convinced about the direction the film is taking, but we've never been the biggest fans of the character so it doesn't really matter to us.

Breaking News: Shirley Walker, Animated Batman Composer Dies

Typically, the music in a given television show isn't given a second thought by viewers. Just moments ago, our local public radio station announced the death today of Shirley Walker, who worked on Batman (the movie, directed by Tim Burton), as the conductor. As a composer, she worked on the scores for Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond (our favorite animated Bat-show, all things considered), Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, and Superman: The Animated Series, among others. She was 61 and the rare successful woman in an industry dominated by men. What made us take note was her moody and moving score to Batman: The Animated Series. Visit here for some interesting facts about Shirley.

David Mack: Alchemy of Art DVD In Stores This Week

We received the following bulletin from David via his Myspace page. Yes, we have one too. Don't ask. It's Cat's - errr, we mean Phil's fault.

In stores this Week!You can see the trailer of it and order it direct from
herovideoproductions.com.Let me know what you think.

We're hoping we - and you - can get it at our local comic shop tomorrow. By the way, the most recent Kabuki: Reflections looks to be a nice complement to the DVD, or a stand alone piece if you prefer. David Mack Guide has links to trailers for the David Mack: Alchemy of Art DVD. As regular readers know, Mack's our favorite artist working in comics today. He's also genuinely friendly and gracious with fans. If you see him at a con, don't be shy.

Shocking: Grace Jones' Long Lost Sister Found

She was given up for adoption in her native Jamaica years ago. Her name is Naomi Campbell. Perhaps your familiar with her. Picking fights with civil servants and service employees must be in the genes.

Proselytizing Penance's Pain Points

Yeah, we know this happened a few weeks ago, but were unable to dish about it then, so here we go.

Here's a quick primer: Speedball was a member of the New Warriors, with his powers based on kinetic energy, or some other quasi-scientific explanation that doesn't really make sense to us. He was the one member of the New Warriors to survive Nitro's blast that leveled parts of Stamford, Connecticut, which in turn resulted in the Civil War mini series. Perhaps you're familiar with it. (Editor's Note: We still waiting for Microbe to reappear, perhaps taking on the properties of super high heat bacteria, a la hydrothermal vents. Yes, it's just a theory.)

At the risk of sounding like a Marvel shill, Civil War: Front Line is a quite useful addendum to the Civil War mini. It's in Front Line that we learn that Speedball (Robbie Baldwin) survived. He had a rough road to hoe- society, his family, and many other heroes feel that he was to blame for the tragedy in Stamford, whereas he pointed out that Nitro was the one who actually killed folks (even though the New Warriors attacked across the street from a school). He was placed in the Negative Zone prison, and then trotted out to speak before congress. On his way into the hearing, a distraught parent shot him. The end result was that his powers went awry.

Up until this point we have enjoyed Front Line (heck, we're in the blogging minority in that we are enjoying Civil War in general). However, issue #10 really bothered us. Speedball apparently can no longer access his powers without inflicting pain on himself. It's a bit vague to us as well (for a brief description, albeit in the context of the Thunderbolts, which we will get to later, read the Newsarama article here). He has a costume developed with hundreds of internal pain points to represent all of the persons he - in his mind- had a hand in killing. The result is that he won't be able to use his powers without injuring himself in some way and every time he does, he will have to think of those he has impacted. He forswears his previous identities and will now to try and atone for his sins. Hence the name Penance.

So anyway, the problem we have with the character is the pain points inside the costume. It seems all too gulag-ish to us. I mean, was Paul Jenkins (the author) doing investigative reporting in the Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay Prisons when he wrote this? We like harsh. We like dark. We are not fond of self-immolation in our funny books. At the same time, the idea that he must think of the Stamford victims, is good for the character and will undoubtedly offer many great storytelling opportunities in the future.

Moving on, Penance will soon join the relaunched Thunderbolts, joining villains and reformed-villains on the team. Within the context of the relaunched title, we think the character will work. We do not, however, think it's necessary for him to injure himself. What kind of message does this send? Marvel has it's "no smoking policy" (and depending on whom you are speaking with, a "no gay character" policy), so why not a "no self-mutilation" policy? Now before you get all high and mighty on us, we know that for Wolverine to use his claws, they have to break free of his skin. But Wolverine has a healing factor. As far as we know, Penance does not (and if he did, we think it would undermine what they're trying to do with the character). It's this element that we have a major issue with.

We're Back- Laptop Goblins Vanquished

We're back. Just like that nasty case of herpes, we keep coming back. We were able to destroy the laptop goblins living in HP-Hal. Okay, so destroy may be too strong of a word. They are now working in the Shrub White House. Go figure.

Anyway, we've also finally switched over to the new version of blogger. We're not quite sure how nifty it is, but we'll start to play with it to see if we can get the hang of it.

In the meantime, we'll resume our regular slew of inane postings. Glad you wasted valuable work, school, or home time to be with us.

Miss Cleo's Crystal Ball: President Shrub's Address To The Nation Tonight

Today we unveil a new feature here at Mister Fanboy. Our dear friend Miss Cleo will occasionally send her prognostications to us, so that we can share the impending doom, hook-up, or financial windfall with you (well not really, but at least we will tell you about it).

Hell-oooo my good friends. Miss Cleo here wit an important insight into President Bush's speech tonight about Iraq. Let us consult my magical crystal ball.

*Da President will call for at least 20,000 additional troops. I am seeing da number 21,5000, though might be da number of hours of community service remaining on my sentence, mon.

*We have already lost da war. If we all look between da cushions of our couches, we will be able to find it again.

*Democrats will be called traitors by da talky Neo-Cons for disagreeing wit da prez. I don't know what a Neo-Con is but I tink it is da being who will one day walk dis Earth, a descendent of both Neo and Khan.

*Critics will refer to his policy as "rearranging da deck chairs on da Titanic." They are wrong. Iraq is already a failure. Da correct term is "blowing smoke up da American people's collective ass." I can feel da wind. Can you?

*Da President will claim there's hard work to do. He's right on that one, but he won't do it. He will "pass da buck" to da new administration, or to da Second Coming. Whichever gets here first, mon.

* We're fucked. That is all.

David Mack Discusses Envy

Yes, we are all envious of something or another. Whether it Donald Trump's comb over, Lindsay Lohan's intelliginss, or Goldie Hawn's 13th face life (but certainly not the 14th or 17th).
However, we are referring to envy in terms of the "Seven Deadly Sins." For more information on that, to quote Pee Wee Herman, "just read the bible!"

Our favorite artist/writer consistently working in comics today, Mack discussed Se7en: Envy, the 6th issue in the series which acts as a prologue of sorts to the film of the same name that came out several years ago, with Newsarama. Read the article here. We are embarrassed to admit that we have yet to see the film, though we plan on rectifying that soon. Note that Mack is only writing the issue.

Also of interest - LOTS OF INTEREST - according to that article, the David Mack: Alchemy of Art DVD, delayed from last month, will ship to stores tomorrow. Check with you local comic shop about ordering it for you. We know we did.

Again, we apologize about the lack of posting. HP-HAL was taken over by Goblins and apparently the folks at HP-General Hospital can't get their shit together and cure the goblin infestation. Do we need to graduate to Sony-HAL. Don't make us do that HP ... At any rate, if we don't get HP-HAL back by the 22nd, we get to go shopping for a new HAL. But we don't want to wait that long either. So sorry. We know you have precious work time that you are hoping to waste.

When Laptop Goblins Attack

Curse them laptop goblins. Curse them. Since they've disabled HP-HAL yet again we are consequently unable to post as often as we would like. Fear not workplace time wasters, we will be back as soon as possible. Stay tuned. In the meantime, visit any one of our League of Extraordinary Bloggers off to the left. In particular, check out Arrogant Self-Reliance and One Diverse Comic Book Nation for thoughtful commentary, The Gilded Moose for celebrity-skewering and tits list for fun and social/news commentary.