Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….
- Pokemon’s Ten Most Disturbing Pokedex Entries – ComicsAlliance | Comic book culture, news, humor, commentary, and reviews – I’m tempted to ask Katherine about these … but maybe it’s just as well I don’t.
- Marvel Comic Family Trees – Delightful.
- We’re ‘broke,’ but can apparently afford school vouchers – “But I’m most struck by Boehner’s tearful, emotional appeal. Watching him yesterday, one might be tempted to think he genuinely cares about children and quality education. I obviously can’t read the Speaker’s mind, but there’s reason for skepticism — while Boehner wants to spend $20 million of our money on private school tuition, he also supports brutal cuts to Head Start, Pell grants, Title I grants (which help schools with kids who live in poverty), and nutritional aid for pregnant women and women with young children, among other things.”
- Palling around with ‘an international terrorist’ – “There’s even a video of Graham shaking hands with the international terrorist. If the South Carolina senator wanted to try to strangle the monster right there on the spot, instead of talking about U.S. aid to the guy, that was his chance.”
- The dumbest proposed constitutional amendment of all time – “Those who want a balanced budget amendment should make plain how they’d balance the budget. Otherwise, the scheme is just a silly, cynical charade.”
- Dwayne McDuffie on “the Rule of Three” – McDuffie’s death was a sad loss to the comic book world.
- Rep. Trent Franks Warns ‘I Don’t Know That The Country Can Survive’ If President Obama Is Reelected – If Obama is a “left-wing ideologue of the first magnitude,” I sure wish he’d actually show it sometimes.
- Issa’s Response To ThinkProgress Raises More Questions About His Financial Interest In $1 Million Earmark – Ever hear the one about Caesar’s wife, Darrell?
- Hate Pastor Terry Jones Quietly Goes Through With Quran Burning Plan — And Chaos Erupts In Afghanistan – I wish this were an April Fool’s post, but it’s not. While the murderous, ignorant yahoos (and the religious bigots who goaded them on) have the most proximate blood on their hands, that doesn’t leave Jones off the hook for giving in to either his own bigotry, or his own desire for fame, regardless of the consequences. Well, there are the consequences, Jones — are you happy you were able to flush some murderous Muslims into the open, or do you feel any guilt over how your provocation contributed these deaths?
- Greg Weisman on Young Justice’s 2nd Season – Been enjoying this series a lot. Good to hear that it’s been picked up for a second season (or so).
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6. Is there really such a reader backlash against black characters in comics? I don’t follow message boards, and I guess I always assumed that comic book readers were “enlightened.” It looks like we, as a group, are as flawed as everyone else.
And for the record, I think the Black Panther is one of the most competent heroes out there. If any Marvel character could take out Batman, it would be T’Challa.
McDuffie’s critiques ring true — a team full of white guys is unnoteworthy, while a team with 3+ blacks (or, for that matter, women) draws comment. McDuffie tried his darnedest to overcome that (he was, I believe, responsible for using John Stewart on the JL/JLU cartoons — such that a lot of folks, my daughter among them, considers him the “default” GL, rather than Hal Jordan).
I have not read any of the recent Black Panther / Daredevil stuff (just because I thought the whole idea was yet another stupid abuse of the DD character), but I’ve enjoyed the BP comic quite a bit — and, yes, he’s a real answer to DC’s Batman, and underused as a character in the Marvel Universe. I’m glad to see him in the new Avengers cartoon.