Ed. Note: Part two of this excellent series runs tomorrow at the same time. — J.N.

I will come right out and admit it. I am a geek. I am a hardcore geek. I revel in many different realms of geekdom. Amongst the fields where I am most comfortable with my geekdom is in comic books. I’ve been reading comics books since, well, I could read. During my early childhood, comic books were just entertainment, something to do when waiting at the supermarket whilst my mother shopped or to pass the time in line at the barber. There were the piles of Archie and Richie Rich comics that my grandparents stocked up on for the times a dozen grandkids would descend upon their house for summer vacation. In the end, I didn’t really care about comics themselves, just the ten minutes it would take me to read through whichever one was at hand. There was no appreciation of story arcs or pacing, art work and coloring, dialogue and continuity, all of these things were foreign concepts.

It wasn’t until I was about thirteen that a classmate of mine showed me that comic books were a world of their own. He had boxes and boxes of carefully stored books, each one in an individual bag with a cardboard backing to keep the spines straight. He was able to tell me about which stories were worth following, why Marvel characters were better than DC, and showed me where to go to get the best deals. I was hooked. From then on, I spent every spare penny of pocket money and any other money I earned on comic books. Throughout my high school years, I bought thousands of books, all still in their individual bags with cardboard backs, alphabetized, and organized by publisher.

The genre has changed dramatically since I started following it back in the 80s. It is, to some extent, still dominated by the two major players, Marvel and DC, each of which has its own diehard adherents, but there is now a plethora of thriving independent publishers, each one pushing the envelope in both art and with storytelling. More importantly the consumers have evolved. The geeks who grew up in the 80s, downtrodden and ridiculed by the jocks are the engine that drove the technological revolution of the 90s. They now find themselves hitting middle age flush with success at being the new arbiters of cool and that cool is the geekdom that they grew up loving; comics.

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Fox 411:

The first image of actress Adrianne Palicki as Wonder Woman in David E. Kelley’s remake of the series has been revealed.

Warner Bros TV released the image from the NBC pilot, which shows Palicki covered up more than Lynda Carter’s costume from the 1970s. Palicki wears a full pant, which appears to be made of latex, under a red corset top. Other changes include the removal of the white stars from the costume, and a pair of blue boots as opposed to the original red and white stripes. 

Kelley, who is the brains behind television hits like “Boston Legal” and “Ally McBeal,” penned the pilot and executive produced it as well.

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DC Comics has announced a new look and origin for Wonder Woman. They’re blaming it on the gods.

Once again DC shows it doesn’t know what to do with one of its most iconic characters. The problem with Wonder Woman isn’t her costume. It never was. But leave it to the suits to think a PC reboot is going to solve the problems that have plagued this character since her inception.

DC describes the new outfit as “a Wonder Woman look designed for the 21st century” that will allow Diana “to be taken seriously as a warrior, in partial answer to the many female fans over the years who’ve asked, ‘how does she fight in that thing without all her parts falling out?’ …The bracelets are still there, but made more colorful, tied on the inside and over the hand, with a script W on each of them that form WW when she holds them side by side… and if you get hit by one of them, it leaves a W mark. This is a Wonder Woman who signs her work.”

The problem with Wonder Woman isn’t her look. It’s her personality. She has never been a warm, appealing character. She comes from an island populated only by immortal Amazons who hate men. And men aren’t allowed to set foot on the island. This island of super-women send her to “the man’s world” where she brings the baggage of this sexist worldview.

See, here is problem #1. Most comics readers are male. So you start off telling them their gender sucks. Great sales pitch.

Let’s deal with some reality for a second. I know the PC crowd and leftists in general love the concept of “protected classes” and the idea that, say, women could do things better than men if they had the chance. But aside from the chauvinistic mentality of this argument it ignores a simple axiom. Women are human beings. Human beings are flawed creatures. (more…)

When times get tough, the unsettled among us turn to fictionalized superheroes to vicariously battle the world’s uncertainties. They can even provide an example for turning the lemons in our personal lives into lemonade just as Bruce Wayne (Batman) and Tony Stark (Iron Man) did by turning to crime fighting careers after the deaths of their parents. Because however impotent we may be against reality, we can project our helplessness into an all powerful avatar for a temporary feeling of control or revenge.

During the 1930s and early 40s, the likes of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Captain America where on the comic pages defending honest working stiffs against common crime in the streets, corporate crime in the suites and crimes of political corruption.

Superman even foiled a plot by greedy Wall Streeters and cash-craved Capital Hillers to crash the stock market a second time to cast America into a another depression they could exploit. (more…)

Super-heroes are uniquely American in origin and reflective of the “Greatest Generation” that created them. Their progenitors can be traced to ancient myths though their direct foundation springs from American legends like Paul Bunyan and John Henry. Pulp literature fermented these heroes from the 1800s with Buffalo Bill, Nick Carter and on to Doc Savage. By the 1930s super-powered and costumed characters showed up in the newspaper comic strips including Popeye and the Phantom. 

The characters we now recognize as super-heroes crystallized with the debut of Superman in 1938. Representative of the American experience, Superman was the ultimate immigrant. Not merely from another country, the Man of Steel came from a whole different planet! With his success, publishers released a myriad of titles featuring crime-fighting patriotic adventurers who all fought for “truth, justice and the American way.” That included those who were born on an all-female island (the star-spangled Wonder Woman), from Atlantis (the Sub-Mariner), robots (the Human Torch) or even dead people (the Spectre and Kid Eternity)! Gaining super powers even reformed criminals as in Plastic Man’s case.  (more…)